Socius
by Negare
Summary: Shattered Glass/Mirrorverse. Gettys' story continues onwards from Scelestus. He begins to find his place in the resistance and what that entails. Part two brings Rangimarie and Lewis into the fray. Not as graphic as previous works.
1. Chapter 1

**Socius**

**(Accomplice)**

Part One:

Mās

(Male)

**Chapter One**

"Guess you're thinking _I told you so._ After everything we survived, to get done in by other humans, how stink is that?"

"Pretty stink, and yeah, that's what I'm thinking".

"So, here we are hiding out in some old mine of some description, what you think we should do now, we can't stay here, and we don't' have any food or water".

"For one so young, you're certainly very negative, huh?"

"Glass is half full… and besides, you were locked up safe and sound while those beasts were doing the worst of it all, you didn't see what they did!"

"Oh, you think I didn't? What makes you think those things didn't march up to our concrete walls and smash them in to crush us all?"

"You expect me to believe those things gave a shit about busting you guys out just to kill you guys?"

"I don't expect you to believe anything".

"Really?"

"Yip".

"How the fuck can you be so nonchalant about all this? About me ragging on you?"

"Haha, seriously? You think your silly little ramblings constitute "ragging" on me, boy, you really don't have much in the way of life experience, do you?"

"Enough to know that I'm going to be psychologically scarred for the rest of my life because of what those bloody things did".

"Well, if that's what you want to dwell on".

"You're not letting me get under your skin, huh?"

"Nope".

"Can anything bother you?"

"It's not a point of something bothering me, its about allowing something to bother you. So I don't worry myself with anything".

"Seriously? You can't honestly expect me to believe you given the current circumstance".

"Well, what would you like me to say, kid? That this whole affair has devastated my inner self esteem, has made me consider all the things in life I've lost, friends, family, colleagues? That its made me regret my life choices? Regardless of what I feel on the inside, I don't see a point in getting worked up over any of it. By their standards it was probably a mouse fart in the wind worth of time that I was someone, that I did anything worthy of public notice, now? Well, look at us kid; you and me wandering through the destruction those metal bastards have rough upon our society? You really can't see the forest for the trees, can you boy?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're a smart kid, figure it out!"

"If I could figure it out I would have fucking said so! I wouldn't have wasted time asking you! Just fucking tell me!"

"I don't even think you know what you're arguing about!"

"You said you don't let things bother you, then you turn around and say you regret your life choices, and now that with what those things have done you worry about shit but don't say so?"

"I didn't fucking say that, what the hell is wrong with you, do you have selective hearing?"

"You did fucking say those things!! You're just too senile to admit it! That's if you can even fucking remembered those ramblings!"

"What the hell?"

"Do you think I want to be spending what could be my last days with a whinging, pussy of a brat?"

"Are you insane!! Do you have any fucking concept of what's really happening here? You go on about how I don't seem to realise what's the point, that I'm bothering you when you say you're not being bothered!"

The explosion ripped the ground to shreds behind them.

"What the hell?"

"Don't need two guesses, kid!"

The two men dived themselves into the sludge that sat at the bottom of the roadside ditch.

"Oh god".

Nick whispered as he clambered upwards and peered over towards the source of the fireball.

"Can you see anything?"

The criminal asked as he slouched against the muddy wall.

"Do flames count?"

"Yeah, they count!"

Gettys yelled back as a second explosion ripped the ashen sky from the ground up. He spun around so he was on his knees and he looked up over the edge to add an extra pair of eyes to the search for… well… whatever.

"THERE!"

He screeched over the sounds of the roaring fires, the acidic smoke burning the insides of his throat as he inadvertently got a mouthful. It tasted so foul, the heavy soot was mingled with the soot that covered his tongue, it seemed to draw out the very natural moisture of that valuable muscle. He gagged, coughed then spat a huge black ball of spittle onto the ditch's muddy ground.

The smoke blurred his vision somewhat, but he still had the ability to view the movement from within the fireball and the smoke that it birthed. Nick was in a similar condition of sensation. The heat from the inferno was brushing against his face, the sheer power of it pulsating that his hair swirled back and fourth with its pattern. No matter how each experienced the situation, both gave thought to it being their last moments.

The form stepped out from the burning sphere. It was one of those damn creatures. It said something in a language neither of the men knew, but both had heard – it was the language of the machines. But it didn't seem to notice them. Maybe it thought they were both dead?

"I don't get it… shouldn't it be coming towards us?"

Nick whispered.

"Sssh!"

Gettys grabbed Nick quickly and covered the young man's mouth; he hoped it wouldn't be a habit, this action. The creature stopped and turned in their direction.

"Someone there?"

He asked in English. He walked towards the ditch and the two men cowered lower in the ditch. The creature lifted his rifle, he seemed nervous, almost as if he was second guessing himself and his destructive actions.

"Come out Autobot! I know you're near!"

His voice… it was… was it shaking?

"Primus…"

The creature whispered.

"Megatron always told me there'd be days like this…"

The machine sighed softly. He pivoted on his foot and held his hand up, it folded into a cylinder and then white foam was sprayed over the flames.

He laughed for a moment and then started poking about in the dirt, literally.

"Come on, gotta be one around here somewhere…"

The human tried to stop it, he tried to hold it in, he knew doing it would kill him, kill them both, but he couldn't, and it came out fast and loud and both were unable to do anything about stopping it.

"AH-CHOO!"

Nick whimpered under the sweaty hand of the criminal who'd just slaughtered them both.

The large black and purple mechanical beast stood up from whatever he was doing. He had the top of a cockpit sitting on his chest and two wings protruding from his back. His eyes were a bright red that burned fear right into the hearts of the two small men.

"oh god".

Getty's whispered, aware of the severity of his mistake.

They were then spotted.

"WOOOH! Humans! TWO Humans!"

The machine almost jumped backwards, absolutely stunned to see these two organic creatures staring up at him from the ditch they found themselves huddled in.

"RUN!"

Gettys managed to scream as he clambered up out of the ditch, grabbing the younger by the scruff and hurling up out, finding strength he hadn't possessed since he was the same age.

"Wait!"

The machine called to them as they ran off in different directions.

Nick realised he was the target. The creature was bearing down on him with a frightful amount of speed. But what struck Nick as peculiar was the thing was blasting at him… maybe it wanted to grab him, torture him, tear his flesh from his bones. Dear God. They were going to die!

Suddenly the creature was in front of him, on the ground so his face was level with the running young man, who was taken by such surprise that he tripped over and face planted.

"Hey, hey, relax little man, I ain't gonna mush you one".

The human looked up at the robot, his face contorted in fear.

"Please…"

He sobbed.

"Wow, you guys were really messed up by those damn Autobots".

"GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU MONSTER!!"

Gettys didn't know what the hell he was doing, or why he was running at the robotic beast many, many metres higher then he. He didn't know why he was picking up chunks of still warm, charred rock and throwing them at it, he didn't know why he was getting closer and closer, and he certainly didn't know why he was now kicking the purple and black mech in the hand.

"Hey! That ain't nice, seesh!"

The machine sat up on his arse and rubbed the grubbing smudges the human's attack had left on his hand.

"Man! What the hell is in that sludge! It stinks like shit!"

The metallic being held his hand up to his nose and sniffed making an almost amusing face.

The criminal stopped his "assault" and the other pushed himself up and together they looked at the strange machine that hadn't killed them yet and certainly wasn't cussing them out.

"Who...?"

Nick stammered.

"You're not like the others".

Gettys cottoned onto it pretty quickly.

"The others? You mean the Autobots?"

"The whatobots?"

Gettys asked, but he couldn't be sure if he had heard that term before.

"Hahah… What-Oh-Bots? That's absolutely priceless! Man! I gotta tell TC that! He'll split his diodes in half laughing! HAHAHA".

"Ah… so you are?"

"Name's Skywarp, I'm a Decepticon. Pleased to make your fleshy, albeit smelly acquaintance".

He offered a finger to the criminal who took it as a sign for a hand shake and so did so.

"I've been on a lot of worlds, but none have a greeting where you grab each other's hand and shake… its so human! I love it!"

Skywarp grinned.

"Decepticons?"

Nick managed without too much of a stutter.

"Yeah, we're the good guys".

"Oh thank god".

Nick breathed outwards.

"Good guys?"

The criminal asked.

"Sure are! See, there's the Autobots, the nasty bastards who have trashed your planet, and then there's the club I belong to, the Decepticons, we're not big fans of the whatohbots, so we're here to stop them… or at least try to".

"And you're not going to hurt us?"

Getty's inquired.

"No, no, of course not! You're not into that kind of stuff… are you? What's the human word… ah…."

The Decepticon consulted his data banks for a moment, his optics flickering.

"Sadomasochist".

He laughed again.

"Anyways, you guys wanna come meet my boss? Megatron? He's a funny guy! Seriously!"

"Why the hell not, better then hanging around here".

Gettys stated as he threw his hands up. If this creature was going to kill them, then it didn't really matter where, right? And if it was true, if Skywarp was part of the good guys, then there was no way in hell they should ignore the offer.

The Decepticon picked up Nick, lifting him out of the warmed muck until he was in a standing back on the ground.

"Stand back little smelly friends".

The Decepticon smiled as he took a few steps back and then started to fold down until sitting before the two men was an F-15 Eagle. The cock pit lifted upwards revealing two seats.

"Hope in, chums! And don't forget to wipe your tootsies!"

He chuckled again. He certainly was a happy-go-lucky mechanical man.

The two humans looked at each other, shrugged, and climbed in.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Above the dark, dusty, ashen clouds the sun reigned free. There existed the wonderful azure of the skies he hadn't seen in a time he couldn't affectively measure. Whilst in prison his ability to see the sky and the sun was limited, but now, free from the walls of stone and doors of bars, that beautiful site once more eluded him. Until now. This Skywarp character seemed to revel in the limitlessness of the sky above. He raced along the tops of the dirty clouds, laughing like a madman possessed as he inclined towards the heavens.

"Woooooh… Skywarp, man… seriously".

The younger one groaned as he grabbed his abdomen and leant forward against the straps that held him securely in place.

"Oh! Right! Sorry little smelly friends! Keep forgetting you humans don't like the G's a heap".

He laughed good naturedly.

"Is it much further?"

Nick asked, his voice oozed with nausea.

"Haha! About ten of your human minutes, little chums!"

"Oh thank God!"

Nick reclined in the seat.

The entire time the criminal said nothing, choosing rather to stare out at the sight he might not see again for a very long time.

"You know, I just realised, you little men know my name, but what are yours? I don't think you want me calling you smelly little friends most of the time".

Skywarp chimed in.

"My name's Nick, and this Gettys".

The young one replied, suddenly aware that he couldn't remember the criminal's first name, but given that Gettys was probably not a "first name basis" kind of man, he figured he wouldn't take too much offence. The ex-con murmured in the affirmative. Skywarp didn't seem to take much notice of the older human's lack of desire to converse and so continued to natter on about how flat earth was and how could the humans stand it? Nick responded along the lines of it not being flat from their perspective. The flying machine replied with something about that being about right, added a series of chuckles and then did an excited loop. The younger one groaned and looked like he was going to throw up; the criminal was too interested in the beauty that surrounded them and the dark clouds that protected them from the horror below.

"OOH! Here we are little friends Nick and Gettys!"

Gettys had to pay attention now as he noticed the jet was descending through the filthy clouds and then he was aware they were flying over the ocean. Up ahead he witnessed an amazing thing; rising out of the blackened water was a huge metallic tower.

"Ahh, home, metal home".

Skywarp flew into the large opening at the top of the tower and landed gracefully on the platform. The massive door shut and then the whole tower began to lower down into what awaited on the ocean floor.

His cockpit lid lifted open revealing a large steel room.

"Out you hop!"

The Decepticon chuckled. The two obeyed and stood back as the jet transformed back into the form of the black and purple painted robot.

"So, this is my place!"

Skywarp held his arms out and smiled broadly.

"Well… it's not just my place, come meet my buddies and our commander… he's a swell guy, seriously! The boss man likes people to think he's all scary and stuff, but nah, he's so neat".

Skywarp certainly was enthusiastic about his commanding officer… which was probably a good thing, Gettys thought, it'd be hard to fight under an officer you didn't like them, or if they were an arse.

"Come on smelly Nick, smelly Gettys".

He chuckled, and started walking towards a large door, waving them to come.

Nick was so amazed at the size of the place. The huge metallic walls seemed to stretch upwards for miles… well, for at least an amount of height that his human eyes had difficultly focussing on. He followed the machine with a kind of excitement, any dread or doubt he'd held previously had been banished by the machine's demeanour, nothing this happy and obliging could seriously be a member of this "Autobot" faction. The young man turned his head momentarily so he could see his fleshy companion walking a few steps to his right. Gettys was taking in as much as Nick, staring about in what could only be described as wonder, at the sheer size of this place.

Once on the other side of the giant door, they found themselves in a long corridor. The two humans hurried to keep up with their host, the eagerness of the younger was starting to increase – he actually ran to make it to the heels of the robot.

"So… Skywarp… you're really part of the good guys?"

He panted somewhat.

"Absolutely, little friend!"

That robot certainly liked to smile, Gettys thought, his gaze being pulled from the walls to the face of that ever so happy machine.

"So there's good guys?"

Nick asked.

"Well… yeah!"

Skywarp continued grinning.

"So you guys have shown up to fight those bad guys off Earth?"

The criminal stopped at that question and lost all focus from the expansive corridor and its massive structure. The robot was quiet for a moment, reflecting somewhat, his shoulders slightly slumped. He sighed.

"We're going to try, little friend".

He sounded almost glum… negative? Gettys contemplated upon the being's now subdued demeanour.

"Well… come on then, time's a wasting and you guys are probably busting to see my chums!"

Skywarp perked up again. They reached another set of large doors which opened for them, and the two humans followed the machine into an even larger, and more magnificent room.

What got Gettys was the windows. They truly were under the ocean. The dark blues and greens of the ocean on the other side of the alien crafted glass like substance. Amongst the colour floated wisps of sea weeds and other underwater flora, and the sparsely occasional fish. Large chunks of God only knew what would sometimes linger along in the violent currents. The criminal walked over to it and stood, looking out at yet another region of their world that had not been left untouched. What looked like a human form drifted by amongst the litter. Gettys decided not to focus on it, and certainly not to admit it was a corpse.

"Wow".

Nick suddenly joined his companion.

"Yeah! Ain't it pretty! I bet it was heaps nicer before the Whatohbots showed up".

Skywarp stood behind them, his visual ability keener then his new organic friends and able to identify objects that he certainly wouldn't share with the two humans.

"You back already, Sky? Seesh, you shirking your responsibilities again?"

"Yeah, you have a run in with some Autobot femmes?"

"Hahahah! You guys are hysterical!"

The Decepticon actually had a hint of mischievous sarcasm in his vocaliser.

"Anyway, look! I found these two little guys!"

"Oh man, the boss isn't going to be…"

"Isn't going to be what, Starscream?"

Skywarp and the two other machines built in a similar style to him turned to face the much larger new comer.

"Oh great and mighty Megatron, look! Skywarp has returned from his patrol, with two humans! What ever should we do, oh magnificent, kingly liege?"

"For goodness sake…"

The new comer replaced whatever he had intended to finish the sentence with, with a sigh. It didn't sound truly frustrated, but there was a hint of "when will it end?" sort of comment a parent with a slightly wayward child would make. Gettys turned and looked up at the large grey and black robot with red accents to his joints. A large canon sat on his right arm. It didn't look like something a "good guy" would have attached to his body.

"Its purely for the defence of my Decepticons".

The robot said pointedly when he realised the older male was staring at it. Gettys looked embarrassed for a moment and quickly adverted his gaze. The Decepticon commander chuckled slightly.

"Who are your friends, Skywarp? Dare I ask?"

"Oh! Megatron! Commander! Wow! You won't believe it! There I was flying along the assigned patrol route, just like you ordered, and then I noticed some activity on my radar, like Autobot activity… oh man! These guys are awesome; you know what they called the Autobots? The whatohbots! How priceless is that? Anyway, Commander, I thought well, my scanners aren't picking up a lot of activity, but enough that I better check it out, so I warped down there, and landed on the ground. There no whatohbots anywhere, so I thought, whatever better take off, I stepped back and BOOM right on a human built mine, man, can those humans build a mine! Thankfully it didn't do too much damage, but Hook ain't going to be impressed when I show up and ask for a repaint! Anyway, the bang must of scared these two little chaps so I grabbed them, thinking, well, can't have humans wandering around an area where there are mines, they could get exploded or the explosion I caused could grab Autobot attention, and the last thing these little guys need are Autobots chasing them down. But man, are they funny, this…"

"I see…"

The one called Megatron cut short, albeit very tactfully, his subordinate after obviously obtaining the information he required.

"Anyway, Commander meet Nick and Gettys, Nick and Gettys, meet our Commander, and all round nice guy…"

"And supreme ruler of all Decepticons!"

A red, blue and white robot cut in.

"Hahah! Good one Screamer!"

The two robots started laughing. The other of similar build just stood there, arms over his chest, and shook his head in disbelief at the sheer immaturity of his brothers.

"I am Megatron. It is a pleasure to meet you both, while I am not adverse to your presence here, but our base isn't accustomed to human needs".

The robot crouched down to their level and smiled softly.

Any doubts Nick had about these robots were completely gone when he met the Decepticon ruler.

"You're in charge of these guys?"

Nick asked with a cheeky grin.

"Sometimes I have to wonder…"

Megatron stood to his full height.

"So… ah… how much longer until you guys beat those whatohbots?"

Nick asked, not sure if he should. Skywarp and his equally mischievous companion started laughing again at the mention of "whatohbots". Megatron seemed somewhat uncomfortable for a moment, but Gettys noticed it wasn't from the undisciplined behaviour of his kin.

"Please understand my new human friend, we have been fighting the Autobots for millions of years, our numbers are seriously diminished by their cruelty in battle and their sheer savagery. There are but a few of our true number on earth, but no matter how few we have, we are dedicated to pushing back the Empire from your world. I know it's most probably not the answer you wish for, and chances are the sadism they have shown your kind will continue, but we will not rest until the Empire is defeated".

"Our mighty Emperor, great Lord Megatron will someday defeat the infamous Optimus Prime!"

"Starscream".

Megatron crossed his arms over his chest.

"Completely tactless as always".

"Oh, how rude! I didn't introduce you little chaps to my brothers, Starscream and Thundercracker… um… did I introduce you? I can't remember. Hahahah! Might need Hook to run a diagnostic on my memory circuits! Hahah!"

"Yeah! He'll love that! But not as much as picking pieces of metal out of your afterburners!"

"AHAHAH! Screamer you bastard!"

The two started wrestling around the room. Starscream managing to get his elbow into Skywarp's abdomen, who quickly twisted his arms around so they were hooked over Screamer's shoulders, the two flipped over and landed in a pile on the ground at Megatron's feet.

"I'll pop you one, Screamer!"

"You talk better then you wrestle, Skydork!"

"Oh yeah! Streamer! I'll…"

The two started rolling about on the floor.

"Holy Primus, I can't believe I'm off the same microprogramming protocol as them".

Thundercracker grumbled. Megatron tried to hide his amusement, but failed and let out a curt laugh.

"Anyway, my new friends, as I was saying, we're not really set up to cater to the needs of organically structured life forms, but we are aware of areas of lesser Autobot activity that we can return you too, or we can track down some of your own kin".

"Our own kin? There are other humans out there?"

Nick asked, it was probably a stupid question.

"Of course. The Empire may have slaughtered many of your species but Prime is learning the hard way that your kind won't relent as easily as others. There are cells of resistance near all of your major centres of populace. We assist them as needed or wanted".

"What do you mean wanted?"

Nick asked.

"Yeah, don't they want your help?"

Gettys inquired.

"Understandably most humans aren't as trusting as you both. We realise after the horrors Prime has brought to your planet it must be hard to expect there are robotic forms of life who aren't as bloodthirsty".

"Prime?"

The younger one asked.

"Obviously some guy high up the Autobot food chain?"

The criminal replied.

"Correct, Gettys, Optimus Prime is the supreme ruler of the Autobots, there are none above him in the chain of command. He is a paranoid, insane and cruel tyrant who has brought suffering and death to countless worlds, including our own. We once lived in peace on our home world of Cybertron, but Prime rebelled and with his army that he'd raised under the guise of protection of our home world, he destroyed our legal representatives. Our war raged for eons until it had siphoned our native energy reserves – that was the point when Prime left Cybertron in search of fuels to power his rampages. He took his massive army from world to world taking what they wanted, enslaving the native populace and when they were of no use, murdering them".

"Holy god… they've done this before?"

"Many times, and once they've finished here they plan to move on and do it somewhere else. But we will make our final stand here".

"We have information that the Autobot Empire is starting to weaken. There are those in the hierarchy who are working behind the scenes to overthrow Prime, some of them view Prime as an overbearing brute, as a maniac who's paranoia and genocidal rages are going to be the downfall of the Autobot Empire. These factions are acting in the benefit of Autobot kind, as they say. And to be honest, while there are Autobots who are just as chilling as Prime, there are those who would bring honour to their army and remove the less then desirable elements".

Thundercracker explained.

"And you came here to try and help humanity but to mostly stop the Autobots?"

Gettys asked.

"Yes".

Megatron stated.

"But enough of such morbid discussion, come, let me show you our base. Perhaps we can find a place where you can clean yourselves. Humans like to engage in many hygiene rituals, yes?"

The commander inquired.

"Yeah, we call it showering, or bathing".

Nick said, he was so taken by these beings and the huge base they inhabited.

"Come then, my friends".

Megatron smiled, crouched down and offered them his hand.

"Climb aboard".

The two humans gingerly clambered upon the large fingers and up onto the hand. Megatron placed them on his shoulder.

"Hold on tight, friends, it's a long drop".

Megatron groaned with amused annoyance as he viewed the two robots still wrestling.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"So you've had contact with other humans?"

The young male asked, the criminal inwardly sure this line of questioning had been investigated.

"Correct".

The Megatron answered.

"And there's like little resistance cells out there, fighting these… Autobots?"

"Correct again".

The grey robot stopped in front of the large computer that seemed to grow from the long room's wall.

"Um… and you're going to dump us on them?"

"You make it sound like I'm trying to get rid of you".

The robot chuckled good naturedly as he tapped a few buttons and a map of the earth came up on the screen.

"Well, you are, right?"

"You're welcome to stay with us, if you'd like, but as I mentioned prior, our facilities are not entirely human… friendly. We don't have stock piles of your fuels or the requirements needed for your hygiene practices".

He was such a friendly chap, the criminal thought. He definitely tried to give the image that he was scary, firm and perhaps a little cold… but the crook had met many men in his life who despite their insistence that they were "tough" they were just nice guys. This Megatron, well, he was one of them, a nice guy. How effective such a personality trait would grant his army in a war was debatable, but they were still here… It also seemed that his young human acquaintance was just repeating questions and thoughts for something to say, perhaps in his book smart mind he was logically assuming that the more the robot spoke to them, the less likely it was going to turn around and stomp them into the metal sheeting that passed as a floor. Of course, maybe Nick was testing this Megatron, trying his patience.

"What do you know about these resistance cells?"

The criminal asked, trying not to sound like he was a spy sent by the Autobots to gather info.

"There are at least ten substantially sized cells within this continent alone. Forty nine by our count in the area you know as Russia, 173 in China. Six in mainland Europe, 12 in the United Kingdom, 15 in Australia, three in New Zealand, and we are unsure of the numbers in the middle east and Africa – primarily we believe due to their lack of communications. Large EMP devices were detonated over those regions by human forces, for what purpose we don't know".

Megatron explained.

"EMP?"

The criminal asked, really not sure what this meant.

"Electro magnetic pulse… I didn't think we had that technology, certainly not in those areas".

The student replied.

"However they obtained those devices, they did create an area where robotic life cannot venture… but the Autobot scientists and engineers are not to be underestimated and have shields that do limit EMP exposure".

Megatron clicked another few keys and then a more detailed map of America popped up.

"I'm guessing the red areas aren't depicting political affiliation".

The crook asked as he noted various levels of red over each of the states.

The Decepticon leader chuckled, yet still retained a rather strong demeanour of seriousness. It was odd for the criminal to see that this machine could be so expressive of feeling.

"What about those pink areas, or those white spots?

Nick asked.

"They depict areas and locations where Autobot activity is nil or significantly lower then other regions".

"Why's that?"

For someone with such a high IQ, the young man could certainly ask stupid questions, the criminal thought inwardly.

"The Autobots are only interested in fuel resources and decimating your planet's natural power. They will therefore only occupy regions which hold resources, processing facilities and or sites of large populace for slave labour".

Megatron motioned to the map indicating the redder areas where near vast power reserves and cities.

"Would you think poorly of us if we went to someplace… empty of those things?"

The student commented. The criminal looked at his kin and seemed almost disgusted.

"Of course not, young one, the majority of your species in this country are not meant for war or fighting, you have no formal training in the arts of conflict and certainly don't display the temperament for it. And frankly, it would ease my conscience a great deal if I had two less human lives to carry the guilt for killing. I would rather place you in an area of relative quiet and peace then in the thick of it with some resistance cell… but the decision is ultimately your's and your friend here".

Megatron motioned to the criminal.

"As much as I'd like to hammer those things down into tinfoil, I don't have the strength or the youth for it anymore".

"Very well, I will see to it you are placed in a safe region. Now, you must excuse me".

Megatron turned to face the new comer who had entered without so much as the humans having an awareness that he was there. The dark navy blue and white machine stood there, his face covered with a mask of some description, red eyes more like a visor in appearance then two separate orbs.

"Commander, we must discuss intelligence matters in private".

His voice was rather lyrical but sounded strange being added to such pointed commentary.

Megatron excused himself again and left the two humans alone in the large chamber.

"So what you reckon?"

Nick asked.

"About what?"

The crook knew, but needed the child to reaffirm if only so he could deny to himself and whoever asked, the cowardice it would take one to avoid fighting for one's own species.

"Honestly, who's going to hold it against us if we just find some peaceful little spot out in the middle of no where to ride out the war? I bet most would do the same thing if they had half the chance?"

"Given that most don't' have that opportunity they wouldn't consider the issue".

"That's my point! We can get out of this; we can sit down somewhere and peacefully wait this out. Megatron and his little chums are here now, they can fight these Autobots, this is their fucking war after all".

"Yeah, but it's our planet, our friends, our family".

"No offence to you Paulie, but you're the last guy who should be commenting about friends and family".

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you obviously decided along time ago that you weren't interested in friends or family since you blew it all away to commit a few crimes! You've spent the last 20 years in jail!"

"And you want to spend the days of the war out in the middle of no where with a criminal?"

"This is no time to point out flaws in my logic. We're got a chance here, to…"

"To sit on our arses and do nothing!"

"As opposed to what? Get ourselves into fights with giant machines that have laid waste to our entire planet in a matter of weeks? Probably not even that! Those guys marched in here, took out our armies, navies, air forces, our most powerful weapons didn't even dent them! The Decepticons are their species, we have no fucking chance against them, but these guys do, so let's leave it to the professionals".

"So we should just be lazy, and not even fight… there are other things we could do to help?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure if we got out there into the thick of it I could think of a few things".

"It sounds like half of these groups don't even want their help, the other half probably don't' even know the 'good guys' exist, and they probably all wouldn't trust them!"

"You can't make any assumptions unless you've been there, talked to them".

"And they'll be grateful to have our help? An almost lawyer and an ex-con? Yeah, I'm sure they'll be ever so glad and oh so willing to share their stale potatoes with us! We won't be of any benefit to them".

"We don't' know that unless we try!"

"Seriously, for a guy who's been in the big house for the past twenty years you sure seem happy to help people you don't even know!"

"All I'm saying is why not try it out?"

"And then what, we find out its not for us and they shoot us and eat our dried up bellies because they view us as traitors for wanting to leave? I don't' exactly see conscience clauses or refusals involved in their terms of service!"

The criminal sighed, he did in theory agree with the younger man, but something just didn't sit right.

"Why don't' we just go somewhere quiet, sit on these ideas for a few weeks and then if you're still really keen to help in this "war" then we can hunt down a cell. WE can ask this Megatron guy for the general location of one so if we get caught between now and then we can't betray people we haven't even met yet".

"Alright, okay, alright… you win".

The criminal groaned, crossing his arms over his chest and looked at the student.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The criminal was alone with his thoughts, his memories, his ghosts.

One such ghost was a man named Jacky the sack. A guy who'd been in the "family" for years, since he was just a blighter, 14 maybe 15 when he crossed the path of a 21 year old Gettys. The young boy had obviously looked up to him and wanted to be a "gangster" too! He came from a broken home, his dad had walked out, or died when he was a baby, his mother had a string of violent boyfriends and had now married one of them. Jack was obviously just seeking a father figure and something to mimic a family unit. Jack had earned his nick name by carrying his "swag" and other illegally obtained items in a burlap sack with the words "Ox's potatoes" printed in now fading letters. As Jack moved up the hierarchy other items of a human nature were placed in the sack. Then one day he screwed up. He got caught by the cops with the sack soaked through with human blood, the blood belonging to an FBI informant and of course Jack let slip a few things he shouldn't have.

That was that. Jacky had earned himself a hit.

Gettys and two of his top lieutenants did the job. At first there was concerns Jacky would be put under protective custody, or dropped into witness' protection – those things though seemed to be along time coming and were poorly organised. So they struck quickly.

The man ended up in a shallow grave filled up with concrete at a building site. His remains had yet to be found. Well… chances are those Autobots had destroyed the now famous icon in New York, so maybe, someone, despite their planetary origin, may have stumbled upon the remains.

The criminal managed to avoid dwelling on how they metered out mob punishment and what they did to get the body to fit in the hole.

His current situation had given rise to thoughts of Jacky's best friend from when he was in school. Bruce. It certainly wasn't a Marfia name. Bruce hailed from ye ole England, a small little village so far from any major centre it was a wonder people could tolerate living there. Bruce had come to America when his mother died and his father rejoined the army to get a new start. His father was posted at a base near New York, so along came Bruce. He was an incredibly intelligent young man who without the negative influence of Jacky and the mob he could have been a doctor or a scientist or someone who did something, helped people and made a lot of money doing it. It was Bruce's murder that still haunted him from years passed. Bruce and Jacky had been friends since they were 8, the death (or disappearance) of a parent their common thread. Jacky was a lanky boy, strange and for the most part had no friends – until he joined the mob. Bruce, being the new kid was bad enough, but throwing into that a different nationality with a really pouncy accent, well, that didn't go down well with inner city kids. The two boys were, and the phrase was actually literal when used to describe them, were as thick as thieves. So when Bruce one day, at the age of 27, refused to do a job, well, that was it. It seemed like a petty thing really, but the details were known to those as much worse. Bruce's wife, who's brothers were in the mob, was raped and murdered by a rival gang. Bruce saw the act as violence as a wake up call, and instead of seeking out mob justice he decided to "forgive" those responsible and found Jesus. What was worse was Bruce was told by his minster to be seen as truly repentant he had to confess his sins… including those criminal by nature to the police! Well, that's when Bruce painted a bull's eye on his back and was marked. It was Jacky who took care of the situation. And it had been very, very violent and incredibly messy. It was Bruce's blood that had soaked the sack.

Bruce had been considered a coward of the worse kind because he wouldn't destroy the men who had come into his home and raped and murdered his wife. Her brothers were rearing to go, but as Bruce was the husband the buck stopped with him.

So it struck him as strange that he and his companion hadn't been on the receiving end of any judgements from the "good guy" robots. Here he was, the younger in the same situation, where their entire planet had been occupied, that his friends and family were probably all dead, or slaves or worse, where maybe billions were dead, where their cities and towns and industry had been devastated by the Autobot Empire and they were now being flown to some out of the way place, ignored by said Empire, to wait for the peace to be declared. Yip, all of Nick's fancy logic and pretty words couldn't change the fact he saw himself as a coward. They were being flown in another one of the Decepticons, a larger mech, who transformed into a shuttle… was his name Blast Off, the human couldn't recall. He'd met so many of them that their names just sort of blurred together. In the back of this giant transport was a small stash of supplies, mostly blankets and other things to keep them warm. A few food supplies that one of the Decepticons had found in a half collapsed supermarket that hadn't been completely ransacked by any surviving humans. The rape and murder of Bruce's wife… that was pretty bad, and that Bruce wouldn't take vengeance he was thought a cowardly whelp, the human species was facing extinction and these guys were taking a sojourn, what was worse? Someone should whack him.

There was a sudden shudder, followed by a large bang.

"What was that?"

Nick suddenly screeched, pulling Gettys fully out of his thoughts

"Its that traitor SkyFire!"

Blastoff growled… the first thing he'd said to them the entire journey of 30 minutes.

"Who's that?"

Nick asked.

The Decepticon gave pause for a moment and then realised the humans probably didn't know Autobots by name.

"Never mind… HOLD ON!"

He bellowed as he swerved violently to his right to avoid the missile fired by the former Decepticon scientist. The two men groaned with discomfort as they felt the full force of the G's needed to circumvent destruction. The Combaticon began to fly upwards, considering his bulky form he was rather agile… of course, Gettys noticed as he looked out the window at their hunter, the Autobot had a design that was a lot more aerodynamically slicker….

"You can't escape me, Decepticon".

The Autobot's voice crackled over the radio. It sent a chill through the young man's blood. But Gettys had heard worse threats. Not that that made the Autobot any less dangerous.

"If that's what you believe, traitor".

Blastoff replied as he ducked and entered into a controlled free fall. Skyfire followed with just as much ease, firing a multitude of grenades and lasers.

"I don't mean to tell you how to do your job or nuffin', but that guy is gaining on us!"

Gettys pointed out to the machine he rode in.

"I'm well aware of that, human".

It didn't sound so callous when the Decepticon thought it, but he really had no time to consider the man's emotions. If hurt feelings were all they walked away with after this encounter then he'd have considered it a job well done.

Blastoff skimmed above the charred ground, the exhaust from his engines flicking up dirt and debris and the occasional human remain. The Autobot was in close pursuit, he certainly had the speed to keep up, and that was confirmed when he purposefully slammed into the aft of the shuttle. Blastoff lost a portion of his control and scrapped a long the earth for a few hundred metres.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Nick screeched as the mech they rode in violently shuddered.

"Don't panic".

The mech replied.

Gettys said nothing, he just grabbed the arm rests tightly and clenched his teeth.

Blastoff managed to fire his auxiliary boosters located under his belly – used for just such emergencies, it gave him a few metres lift from the damaged ground. His sensors while being jarred still gave him the warning that Skyfire was coming in for a second knock. The Decepticon pulled on fuel reserves and blasted out as powerfully as he could just as the Autobot was less then two centimetres form another purposeful collision. The expulsion of burning fuel into the scientist's face was less then welcome and he lost control momentarily slamming into the a pile of rubble that protruded from the ground.

The Combaticon wasn't going to hang around to see the Autobot get back up and come in for round two. He pushed all power, all fuel reserves, everything he had, everything he could pull, everything he could use, everything he could force into his boosters and he took off towards space.

"OH MY GOD!!!"

Nick squealed as the G's about him began to push him forcefully into the chair, the pressure starting to slam his airways shut.

"Hang on! I won't do this much longer!"

The Decepticon found himself quickly in the higher atmospheres of earth, way above the charred dust that had soiled the skyline, even out above the blue, now he was surrounded by stars and carried two unconscious humans. He began to descend, plotting a course that would give him a vector that would carry him further then Skyfire could plot in his current state.

All he had to do was land and leave the humans someplace safe, scan their life signs and make sure if Skyfire came back it'd only be for the Decepticon not the creatures of flesh he cared for.

The Decepticon landed, transformed and gracefully placed the humans on the ground, adding their human requirements about them. He looked at them, scanned them and found they'd recover. He sat and waited for them to regain their awareness. This wasn't the area that Megatron had instructed the men to be taken too, yet this one was just as empty of Transformer interference. His scanners showed that the region had once been a heavily populated area of human industry, mines and other resources had been heavily processed, but now they were completely diminished and now of no use to the humans. They had lost interest and thus lost jobs, the communities built to support the families of those miners and industrial workers now shut down and left. The place was empty. Blastoff was also able to pick up on low levels of radiation, while it was within the normal range for a human it was a little higher then normal, it was also too low for it to have been caused by any of the detonations of the human weapon called "atomic bomb". Regardless, whatever the issues with this region it was better then getting into fisty cuffs with Skyfire.

Nick woke first, groaned and sat up.

"You are safe here. Its not the region agreed on, but safe none the less. You have your supplies. I must go now. Your companion will wake soon".

Blastoff stood, transformed and took off before Nick could even protest.

The young man stood and took in his surrounds. They were between a large factory and a small office building. He gave Gettys a tap on the shoulder, he groaned a profanity and then went back to sleep. Confident in the Decepticon's comment he walked along to the end of the alley way he stood in. There was a large car park that showed the signs of age and abandon. The area had been empty for a lot longer then a few months or even a few years, so chances are this placed had emptied long before the machines had bought their war to this planet. He returned to Gettys and found the man slowly sitting up.

"I don't know where we are, but it's been empty for a bloody long time".


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

The two men walked sluggishly along the empty road that sat in front of the old factory they had momentarily called home. The road seemed to be leading them up towards an old town – from their vantage it looked equally derelict. It hadn't taken them long to decide that hanging around and abandoned industrial centre wasn't the best idea they could have.

"What you think happened to Blastoff?"

Nick asked after the long quiet between them started to grate on his nerves.

"Dunno. Hopin' he got back to his chums".

The criminal answered, his tone of voice sounding rather bored.

"You don't sound like you mean it".

"How would you like me to sound?"

"Maybe have some emotion in your voice, that guy saved us, he could be dead now!"

"Just as much as he could be alive".

"STOP THAT!"

"Stop what?"

"Toning your voice like you don't care! Staring straight ahead like none of this matters".

"How would have me tone my voice? Which direction would you have me stare?"

"Just… JUST SHUT UP!"

The criminal chuckled slightly out of earshot of the over hyped youth. There was something amusing about annoying the hell out of that boy to the point he started squeaking. Of course, it probably wasn't the wisest of things to be doing given the circumstances. He for one didn't want his end to be the result of an uncontrolled, loud, brash, young former student.

"Calm down, will you. Seesh, no wonder you wanted to cower away out in this shit hole".

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"Did you call me a coward?"

"Nope. I used the word cower not coward".

"Which is the same thing as calling me a coward".

"You're the one who made the link".

"You don't really respect me, do you?"

"Honestly?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want an honest answer".

The former student of the law ran to be at the criminal's side, more to be in his face.

"Nope. Not one iota"

"Why?"

"Gee, I wonder".

"I want to know why you don't respect me! Tell me!"

"Use your inside voice".

"Argh! You're so damn frustrating!"

"And your yelling could get us killed!"

The first time he raised his voice in reply.

Nick quietened down suddenly, his eyes just staring at the ex-con; he was definitely considering those harsh words.

"He is correct in his assumption, you understand".

The two men spun around quickly to see the new comer.

He was a rather portly man who spoke with a thick English accent, a bushy grey moustache riding on his upper lip as he did so.

"Who in the hell are you?"

The criminal asked; inwardly horrified that someone could just walk right up on them in the middle of a conversation – more so that it could have been something other then a human.

"Chumley's the name, and winning back Earth's my game… it was hunting".

He winked.

"And you think you're going to win back this mud ball by hanging around an abandoned town with a rusty old sword?"

Nick grumbled pointing to the naval sword hanging from the new comer's belt.

"Ah, the impetuousness of youth! I, young sir, wear this to commemorate Her Majesty's Navy and the valiant attempt they engaged in to protect our Empire from the invading machinery of another world!"

"You were in the British navy?"

The criminal asked.

"Indeed I was sir; I was serving as commanding officer of one of Her fleets stationed in American waters during the invasion. We put up a fine effort, but alas, it wasn't to push them back. So now, I have taken to the land in an attempt to win back our home".

"A one man army… or do you prefer navy?"

"Indeed I would prefer it young sir, but I wouldn't say one man".

He gave a hearty laugh.

"Come chaps, come and meet your fighting brethren".

"What? Hahah… no way! We didn't come out here to fight in some wayward resistance cell!"

The young man bellowed.

"My, my, he certainly yells doesn't he?"

The criminal chuckled at the Englishmen's keen observation.

"I'm serious! We came here to…"

"To what? Hide? Run away and hide behind mummy's apron strings? To stick your head in the sand? Burry yourself down under a rock? Well, I'm sorry to have to be the one to inform you of the reality of what's going on young man. But this is war! In the words of the great Churchill, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!"

"I'm not a solider! I'm not going to be fighting anywhere, certainly not on any damn beach!"

"You are a human, aren't you? A man of flesh and blood yes? Well, good sir, that is all those creatures need as an excuse to enslave you, to destroy your home, murder your family. You may not be a solider, but as a human being you must stand up and fight for your species! But most importantly, you are a man! And men don't hide away".

His words were so eloquent, so stirring, that the criminal wondered if he'd met this man many years ago his life could have taken a much different, and probably law abiding direction. Of course, Nick didn't seem to think so.

"Look, Nick, if you want to hang around here in this abandoned little town, good luck to you. But I'm going with the Brit. Maybe this was some sneaky trick by Megatron to get us to do our part, or maybe it was just a freaky accident or coincidence, but I'm going. You can come with us if you want, or you can stay here and rot. Cos frankly, I'm sick of your BS".

Nick looked so enraged for a moment, but after a few uncomfortable moments of stressed silence something inside him must of convinced him to go, probably hunger or the fear of being alone, but Nick gave in.

"Fine. I'll go with you guys. Mother fuckers that you are".

"Oh, hah hah! Jolly good show, ole chaps!"

He seemed to ignore the profanity directed at him.

"Follow me to victory!"

Chumley held up his sword and marched off towards a small alley way between two of the smaller factories that indicated a lower zone of activity.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Gettys was starting to realise that hanging around with this soft, uneducated – at least in the ways of the world, young former law student, was causing him serious character flaws. It was bad enough that he had been suckered into essentially running away with his tail tucked between his legs to hide, but being caught by an overweight Pom? Well! That was just… well… it was… insufferable!! Sure, the English fella had military training and obviously very good training, obviously he was good at his job, and obviously he was good at making command decisions and warfare – given his rank. Obviously so many things were just walking up and slapping him in the face for being such a slack softening coward.

Obviously.

In his mind he swore loudly.

Perhaps it was prison that had done it? Sure it'd hardened up physically… well, to an extent, but inside there wasn't that same level of preparation and need as on the outside. On the outside you had to really work to hide your ideas, conspiracies and "swag". On the "inside", sure, getting caught with contraband or planning something… illegal – it'd land you in solitary or slap a few more years on your sentence, but a few extra years or a few days in the hole didn't make a lick of difference really when you were already in for life, or near enough to it. Hopefully being found by this Chumley character would wake up his ideas and bring back his youthful vigour or at the very least his ability to think up con jobs and not get busted for them.

Nick on the other hand was really pissed off. He was really looking forward to some empty house with possessions once owned and cared for by another now being his. He was looking forward to a life of canned goods, powered dry goods, vacuum packed goods, and goods with preservative 207. Now he was staring down the end of the barrel of the gun labelled "human resistance", he was smack back on the front line of a war where it was humans vs. giant alien robots, and given the score so far, he didn't see Chumley's little rag tag band of "soldiers" making any leeway.

The base, if you could call it that, had once been a small air port of some description. Given the amount of dead farm land and the size of the town they'd seen so far – it was probably where crop dusters had taken off from – or at the very least a hobby aerodrome. The small hanger that had once housed those planes was partially collapsed and it wasn't from any war mongering robot, rather a microscopic organism that feasted on metal… it left obvious colouring in its remains. The tower where flight controllers once sat was also in bad shape, though it still stood, albeit with a slight lean to the left. At one point a scrap dealer seemed to have moved in and a small house sat up against a large pile of stripped planes and once loved cars most of which were leaning against the cliff face of a small series of hills.

That was their base.

Chumley led them along a fence line that stretched around the north side, a large stinking stream of sludge oozed along in a ditch next to the fence.

"Only ever come in from this side".

The Brit said rather matter of factually.

"Why's that?"

Nick asked.

Gettys sighed in annoyance and the obvious lack of street smarts the boy possessed.

"Because the rest of the area is laid with mines".

"Mines? Where the hell did you get mines?"

The criminal asked.

"We have a young man who is rather good with explosives and scrap".

There really wasn't much more to say.

They reached the edge of the cliff and found the piles of rocks that lay about hadn't been at their location for long. Gettys ran his hand along one of the rocks and found it was rather dusty and clean of any moss or growth that evidenced time.

"We caused a rock slide to hide the base's entrance".

Chumley replied, obviously aware of what the criminal was looking at.

They reached a pile of rocks which surrounded a black hole, Chumley led the way in and they found themselves on the other side of the landslide. The rocks were being held up by a rather nicely reinforced panel of metal and wire mesh. There were three sections to what was hidden. The largest seemed to be for warfare, and there were stored guns and other weapons, both makeshift, altered and original. They were stacked on shelves that had been dug into the natural cliff face. There was also a pile of plastic and metal boxes, which Chumley later explained held their maps and other more sensitive weaponry. A large piece of wood sat in the middle upon a few bricks. On closer inspection it proved to be a few doors. Piles of papers with maps of the landscape, other regions and cities lay neatly on top. The next segment seemed to be the storage for all manner of items from food, blankets to paper and a few televisions. The final segment was obviously a living quarter. There were other plastic boxes that were filled with food and water. Blankets and makeshift mattresses lay neatly there as well.

"A war can't be won without order. Doesn't matter if it's in the war room or the bedroom, everything in its place and a place for everything!"

Chumley stated proudly.

"We don't have a great amount of space – as you can see. But what we have you are welcome to share in… as long as you take part in our effort to win back our home".

"So you're bribing us? We have to risk our lives to get a few stale pieces of bread and a sleep on a flea infested mattress?"

"My, my, you are a feisty lad".

The Englishman laughed.

"Nick, do you ever want a chance to finish that law degree of yours? Here's your chance to work for something instead of taking it on a silver platter".

The criminal grunted, slightly more irritated then usual.

"A law degree? Well, I must say, how marvellous! We can always use a book able addition. Not to mention we will defiantly need lawyers after all of this to get the show back on the road".

Chumley chuckled.

"We'll help how we can".

The ex-con quickly added.

"Jolly good show; let me introduce you to the rest of my merry bunch".


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Gettys had found he held a great respect for this Chumley. He knew rather very little about the portly Brit, but this didn't diminish what he felt for the warrior. And that's exactly what Chumley proved himself to be. It was hard not to find amusement in his character, the large RAF moustache, a rounded physique and the thick British accent, all topped off with the remnants of a safari type getup which a naval sword hung from the belt. Chumley explained that once on shore he realised he best not be captured by the enemy wearing garb that would give away his allegiance and role, but the sword… well, he couldn't break with either tradition or respect for his fallen sailors and kin.

They'd been with the Englishman and his group for about four weeks now, that time had proven enough to both the new comers how organised and efficient Chumley was. He was smart enough to know not to ambush enemy convoys or do damage to their supply routes in the region. So, Chumley would lead his men outwards, possibly hundreds of kilometres from their "base" to launch attacks. It'd take 6 days of walking for one little mission that involved laying mines around the location of an oil drilling facility. It'd taken out at least three of the Autobots and such an attack caused their number to swell in the region. That's when Chumley retreated his troops 10 days form that area to another where they were able to raid a large stock pile of resources, fuels, food, water. The robot guards of that facility were rather small in statue and both didn't seem too fussed about being there. It was a relatively quick raid, Chumley ordering them to prize petrol and water ahead of all else. They'd been noticed by one of the guards, who began the charge towards them. Chumley had jumped into the action quicker then a man his size should have been able. He swung out with that naval sword and sliced the fingers from the approaching robot. He then followed through with a quick jab through the eye of that machine and into what ever passed as its brain. It went down swiftly, twitching in an unsettling manner before its optics blackened and it "died". The other was unnerved by the brutality visited upon his kin by such an inefficiently proportioned flesh creature and so came at Chumley with a little more forethought.

Chumley revealed he carried more then a sharpened piece of metal and fired at the small beast with a laser rifle, its brains being blasted out the back of its head casing. It too, expired. Chumley then had four of his group get to work stripping down these creatures to pillage its amazing technology. The need for its plating was pressing – as they'd discovered the amazing alloy reflected most sensor sweeps and would protect them from unwelcome optics. The weapons it carried would also be put to good use against its own kind. It was how, Chumley explained later, that he'd come into contact with the laser rifle. They'd essentially dissected a smaller robot that had been executed by larger Autobots – for whatever reason the humans didn't know nor care. Of course, the exercise of "harvesting" was costly and it took more then a few to carry the pieces back to the base. One of Chumley's number had been a "tinkier" in peace time. While he had no formal training, and had actually left school at the age of 13, he did have an uncanny knack for figuring things of a robotic nature out. He was certainly very good at taking an Autobot weapon and grafting its components to a human sized one, giving a 202 a laser fuelled edge.

While that had all been very exciting, the long walk back to the base certainly didn't fill Gettys with joy and belief in the long term goal of victory – Nick was also less then impressed with the increased physical activity. Yet, Chumley led by example. Marching ahead of his band quite briskly but with a good level of caution, occasionally turning and encouraging his men onwards with British colloquialisms and metaphors.

Gettys wondered again what path his life would have taken if not for his criminal failings. Jail certainly wasn't something crooks aimed for. Its what he couldn't understand about some of the young punks these days, the viewed going to jail as some kind of twisted criminal right of passage. It was far from that! It was a hellish place where dignity and self-respect usually didn't exist, especially if you were some new fish who's crime wasn't' anything to chill the blood of your fellows. Gettys had been afforded a good deal of respect for the most part, given who he was and what he'd achieved, but as the years went by, and fellows died of age and… well… "incidents", people who knew who he was and what he had done were few and far between. Even the original guards and wardens who knew his identity had either moved on or passed away. He picked up another steel pipe and stuffed the highly flammable explosive putty into the shaft, inserted a wick and then capped it, adding it to the pile. It was a boring job, one which he found his mind wandering frequently. Nick had been given "expansion duty" which was a nice way of saying "go dig a hole in that cliff and make a few more rooms". His complaints during were a lot less then "hygiene duty" and "gather fire wood duty". Gettys gave a sly smile and laughed softly as he picked up another pipe. Nick had freaked out when he had been told by Chumley to head alone into the woods to sift through ash and debris to find burnable wood. Chumley was definitely no fool he knew Nick had no want or desire to do any job that involved standing or moving of any kind, so the portly Brit had given him a job where the youth would begin to fathom all manner of horrible ends after running into one of those creatures lurking in the woods. So Nick was only to happy to then end up with digging holes after the leader responded "well, the only other task we have is…"

Clever man, that Chumley.

Gettys figured he'd had to be given he'd probably experienced a number of wayward youth in his ranks over the years.

The criminal added another pipe bomb to the pile.

It was kind of nice to not be in charge. To do mindless busy work where he wouldn't be held accountable for the actions of everyone of his crew.

--

When evening came, Gettys found he'd filled six banana boxes with the small makeshift incinerary devices. He wasn't sure how effective they'd be against a larger of the machines, and chances are, some probably wouldn't even work – there wasn't exactly a quality control officer sitting at the end of the conveyer. A woman of about 45 came and got him for dinner and the two walked in silence back to the small cooking area – which they kept away from their "living quarters", for both fire safety reasons and in case something saw the smoke.

"So… I hear you were in prison".

The woman was so abrupt in her statement he had to wonder if maybe she had a brain injury, judging by the lack of hair on the right side of her head and a series of unpleasant scarring it was probably a plausible explanation.

"Yip".

He said as matter of factually as possible.

"Nick says you were a gangster".

"Yip".

"Seriously?"

"Yip".

"Take it you don't' want to talk about it?"

"Question is, do you want me to talk about it?"

She looked at him for a moment and contemplated on his words.

"The commander wants to see you after dinner".

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Dinner consisted of a thin soup made from potatoes and broccoli. It was filling, warm and the over dosing of pepper made it rather tasty. They ate in relative silence, the slurping and gulping and occasional burp the only real sounds shared. They only had enough for two meals a day and so this time was spent about food, not about conversation – Lord knew they had enough time during the day to natter to each other.

After they'd cleaned up their plates and placed them neatly away, extinguished the cooking fire and then carefully stacked the remaining soup in a small makeshift fridge – a big box with chunks of snow, they were able to retire for the night. To either sleep or engage in recreational activities which basically meant checkers, monopoly or scrabble. Chumley, in his spare time was working on a chess set – but spare time for the commander was few and far between.

"Gettys, let us converse".

The criminal looked up at the commander. He left his space at the monopoly board and followed the British citizen out on to the tarmac. They walked in silence for about five minutes before Chumley recounted his thoughts to the ex-con.

"My father was a criminal. A big game hunter who would pooch animals illegally from all manner of protected reserves. He decided to increase his interests and started after everything from Panzer tanks to Russian aircraft… not the wisest of moves during the Cold War, I assure you. When I was 10 he was sent to a Russian Gulag. I never saw him again. I spent the next few years of my life being a right royal hooligan. It took the words of my mother on her death bed to straighten me out. I entered the navy at 17 and as far as I'm concerned, I am still a sailor in Her Royal Highness' fleet!"

He paused.

"What I'm trying to say to you, lad, is, I don't know why you did what you did. But right now, your criminal history doesn't mean a lot to me or, I can assure you, to those Autobots. They don't care if you lived a spotless life, or were a homicidal maniac, to them you are human and that's all the excuse they need to enslave or kill you. My invitation, to you, good sir, is this – fight with us as you have been, give assistance when asked and work when needed, help us, your species to push back these metallic invaders and I for one will not consider your spotted past, and nor will any of the others. Your young friend, I imagine, only told of your foibles to try and get you both relieved from my duty, but right now, we need all the man power we can get to fight those devils. What say you, sir? Fight with us, your kin, against those monsters? Or take those criminal skills of yours elsewhere?"

"If I wanted to have left, I would have".

"Jolly good show! I will ensure not a word more is said about this unsavoury topic! You are dismissed!"

Gettys didn't really care either way that Nick had ratted him out, and frankly, the words of his new commander didn't bother him. He wanted his home back. Maybe this was his way to repay the universe or God or whoever, for all the shit he had pulled in his life. He was in this for the long term now. Prison was meant to be "paying off your debt to society"; Gettys could never understand how sitting in a concrete cell with bars day after day for a set number of years was paying society anything. But here he really was now paying a debt to society. He'd pay it off by fighting for the very people who would oftentimes shun or fear him. Gettys no longer had the prerogative to be a criminal, or to call himself such. That life was far behind him. It was a dead life. He had to live now to ensure humanity lived.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Nick finished smearing the wet cement on the inside wall of the new chamber he and three others had spent a week digging out. While he wasn't a big fan of the cement job it was a far sight more enjoyable then digging. His three companions consisted of an 18 year old woman called Pippy who was less then enthused to talk to him… or anyone else for that matter, an overweight 32 man called Graham and another man in his 30s, Warren.

"Right, gis a hand, Nick".

Warren walked over to a pile of sheet metal and lifted up a piece. It had once been the outside skin of one of those creatures.

"So… what's the point of sticking this in that cement?"

Nick asked, as he hauled up the other corner of the metal and the two men carried it towards the wet wall.

"Dunno exactly, just that for some reason it stops their sensors scanning anything behind it. We put it in the walls, they can't see us".

Warren explained as the two then fastened it into the wet cement. Pippy picked a few strips of the metal and began filling in the gaps with it. Graham was mixing up another bat of cement to go over the top, which they would they push rocks into to make it look like it was part of the natural cliff face.

"I hear you met the big grey one".

Pippy stated as she threaded a thin piece of the platting into a gap that ran along the edge of the wall.

"The big grey one?"

Nick asked.

"Yeah, you know, the Decepticon leader guy? What's his name…?"

Graham added.

"Megatron".

Warren informed as he picked up trowel of cement and slathered it over the plate.

"Ah… yeah".

"So? What's he like?"

Pip pushed.

"He's okay, I guess. I mean we didn't exactly share life stories. He just told us that there were other human resistance cells around the world and that he and his guys were here to try and kick out the Autobots".

"I hear he's a nice guy".

Pippy added.

"Nice guy? Sure. Whatever. He's just another machine. Once those Autobots are out of here, I would put any amount on the fact him and the 'cons will just take over".

Warren grumbled, obviously he was a little jaded about the whole concept of giant robots, especially good giant robots.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth if they're going to help us let them!"

Graham muttered loudly.

"You say something, Graham?"

Warren growled as he turned to face them.

"Would you two just shut up? We still have two more walls to do!"

Pippy grumbled. The two men stared each other down then eventually realised they better get on with the task at hand. Nick was rather impressed with their ability to just shrug off their disagreement. And soon enough they were laughing and joking around again.

Nick had to say he was impressed with the work they had achieved. The wall of their new room actually looked like the cliff face that towered above. It had a strong smell of drying cement but other then that, the young man wagered it would protect them from sneaky prying eyes – especially if what they said about the plating was true.

"It's a fine lookin' wall".

"That it is, Warren, that it is".

Graham stated.

Chumley suddenly approached from a group of people working over a nicely camouflaged vehicle.

"Good work, chaps! Good work! Now, go get a nice warm meal and then after dinner we'll be having a meeting".

Chumley said with a grin crossing his face that unsettled Nick somewhat.

--

Dinner had been a few cans of peaches lightly warmed over their small fire. It'd been filling and it was nice to have something sweet that wasn't pillaged from a vending machine.

The criminal watched as Chumley came out of one of the rooms carrying a small stash of rolled sheets of papers – maps. The generously sized man sat down and lay the papers down in front of the group.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to give you our latest foray into occupied territory".

He pointed downwards with a chubby finger at what looked like a poorly drawn mountain range.

"The Autobots are using our kin to mine ore which they then process into some form of fuel. The processing plant is located exactly 3.5 kilometres from the mine. Now the robots are guarding both of those locations, but the mines are less guarded then the plant".

"So that's our target, the mines?"

Pippy asked.

"If we attack the mines it won't take them long to get digging again, we need to go after the plant".

The criminal said matter of factually.

"What? No way! That's crazy! There's no way the robots are going to just let us waltz up and trash their processing facilities!"

Nick screeched.

"You're absolutely right, young man, which is exactly why we need to do this".

Chumley replied.

"My plan is to plant explosives along the top of the cliff above the mines. We blow them as a distraction. Three and a half Ks is nothing for them to travel, I'm hoping a diversion will have them drive out to the mines, leaving the plant less then heavily guarded. They're unlikely to think we actually have the resources or the guts to attack the plant".

"How do you propose we take out the plant?"

The criminal continued, no manner or sarcasm or doubt in his question.

"Once the distraction at the mine has taken place, we will attack the facility by rolling drums filled with explosives down this hill behind it".

"Where will we get explosives and barrels from?"

Nick asked.

Chumley motioned over towards the partially collapsed small hanger.

"Amongst the rubble we located at least 50 drums, possibly once filled with fuels, but empty now. We've also located fuel still in the underground tanks. Not a lot mind you, but enough to serve our purpose".

"How will we get 50 fuel laden drums up to the plant?"

The student queried.

"We will carry them up over the course of a few days, slowly, carefully, and stash them in a cave near the top of the cliff face behind the plant. The fuel we will carry up in a similar way. It will be difficult, and take a lot of effort on everyone's part, but the results will be worth it".

"Question… what about the workers? There's people in that plant, and the mines, what do we do about them? Blow them up too? What if the Autobots make an example out of them for our actions? And if we do rescue some, where do we put them… there must be at least a few thousand people slaving for those bastards?"

Pippy asked.

"They aren't our prime concern at this point; however, if we do rescue them, we can put them in the basement of the nearby town's hall and school. It won't be comfortable – those who wish to fight with us can join but the rest will essentially be on their own. As unpleasant as that it is, it's the reality of what we're facing. We're in a war; it's about the bigger set of numbers, people".

Chumley said firmly.

They were quiet for a moment as the commander's fingers hovered above the map.

"When do we start?"

Graham asked.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Chumley was certainly not a commander to remove himself from the suffering or drudgery his troops would endure. He had been the one to fashion a harness to attach four drums to a large stick which two would carry. He'd also been at the head of the small line of humans hauling the drums to the top of the hill that the plant backed onto. The trees in this area were dead, true, but still stood and provided a good manner of camouflage. At least from eyes… heat censors maybe not.

Chumley had an answer to that. The man was an absolute genius, or at least ingenious. He'd found a way to scrape small threads from the plating they'd taken from the few robots they'd felled and sewn it into their blankets which would provide some manner of protection from Autobot censors. It seemed to have worked so far. They'd haul the drums up while others would carry smaller containers of fuel.

Graham, Warren and a man called Dwight had gone to plant the home made explosives along the ledge above the mines.

What their commander had failed to mention to them was, that while the processing plant was only 3.4Ks from the mine, and close to a town hall and school, the location was actually 64Ks from their little base. It'd taken them five days to carry the 42 drums that had not sustained any damage that would render them unusable for their plans.

Once at their location they began filling the drums and Chumley again came to the forefront with an idea that would trigger the release of all the drums at once, and another small device attached to each that would cause explosion on impact. Gettys had no way of knowing if these little inventions of Chumley's would work, ad he did have to wonder what they were going to do once the attack began. Chumley had pointed out to them as they journeyed to the location a small basement in a Ranger's hut that was about ten kilometres back the way they'd come. He really didn't see himself making it back there in time. And sure, their blankets with metal skin plating thread through, and their rock walls with plates cemented into them worked at a considerable distance, but would they be noticed by an Autobot or three standing right over them?

Gettys stood there, hiding behind a rather large tree that had died from the foulness in the air and the lack of sunlight in this area. Its large braches were blackened from the fires that passed through shortly after, its trunk was crumbling in parts, but it and the bushes and felled charred flora provided ample cover for them and their special blankets. The plant was in clear view straight down the hill. It was massive, much bigger then any facility humans had ever crafted. Four huge chimneys belched out black smoke into the already ruined atmosphere. There was one in each of the facility's corners. A large factory was smack bang in the middle with large corridors leading to smaller buildings that lay around the compound. There didn't seem to be any Autobot guards on the side that faced up the hill, unless they were sitting in some well hidden command bunker. There was no sign of any human life.

One of the younger men joined them, he must have been here for a few hours longer then Gettys and the others as the criminal hadn't seen him in the drum convoy.

"The slaves are in their barracks, they're shut down production for what I think is general maintenance, or maybe one of the slaves did something, I dunno… but they're not in the facility".

"Is the barracks where we thought it was?"

"Yes commander, plus or minus a few centimetres".

"Excellent. Get yourself a drum ready and let's wait for the explosions at the mine".

Chumley turned and smiled at the criminal.

"I've managed to convert these Americans to the metric system".

He said proudly, the ex-con simply grinned back in return.

"What now?"

Nick asked as he crouched down amongst the dead bushes.

"Why, my boy, we wait".

They didn't wait long. It had perhaps been only twenty minutes when the explosion ripped through the night. It wasn't exactly a quiet area. The sounds of machines, generators, processers and whatever else existed in those mental buildings caused an unnatural humming to drift into the night air. They were able to see a series of bright flashes off in the direction of the loud bangs. They continued for ten minutes, even when the robots were spewing out of the processing plant and revealing them and their hiding places. There were guards down at the bottom of the hill; they had been sitting up against the walls, covered by shade and walls. They ran towards the commotion and once outside the plant's walls they folded down into various vehicles and sped towards the attack.

"We wait two more minutes, to be sure…"

Chumley whispered, Gettys was sure he could hear the bristling of his moustache over his lips as he spoke.

Nick was close to the ex-con, who realised he hadn't really had much to do with the kid lately. Both seemed to think the same thing – how long was two minutes, did anyone have a working watch? Did Chumley? As it was, their thoughts and nervousness made the time seem to grind by slowly, but before they knew it Chumley was up and giving the command to roll the barrels. He removed a small device that looked like it had once been a cell phone and stood tall. Waiting.

The barrels bounced and rolled and clanged down the hill. They seemed to make a hell of a noise. The criminal wasn't sure if it was because they were close to the drums and knew they were there – would nearby robots notice? Or had they all rushed towards the mine? Would their robot senses, obviously more keen then human, be alerted? Gettys breathed out through mouth loudly as he gave a few chews on the insides of his mouth.

Then there was a flash. It was accompanied with a large bang. The first drum had exploded right up against the wall of the closest building. The others seemed to follow suite and the explosions ripped along the structure. At first the criminal wasn't sure if a few drums filled with a few litres of petrol would do any damage to a robot built building. Perhaps it was enough, or perhaps they struck upon something that was flammable because before he could even think of an awareness of the action, a huge explosion tore through the building at the bottom of the cliff, a huge ball of flame engulfed a nearby structure until it reached one of the smoke stacks which fell as a result of the heat and force of the blast.

"RUN, CHAPS!"

Chumley screamed, throwing caution to the wind with his order, he turned and started waving at his men. First to lead, last to leave. Was how he would command his troops. Gettys didn't need any further order, and grabbing the young man by the scruff of his shirt, took off along the verge through the dead forest.

Explosions continued to ring out behind them, the heat of the fire balls brushing against their backs and the force of the blast waves pushing their hair in all directions. Gettys was aware of the thrashing and crashing sounds his companions were responsible for as they fled through the forest towards a basement that might not even exist. A basement that was about ten kilometres away.

"Come on! Run faster Gettys!"

Chumley yelled from behind.

"You too, Nick! RUN BOY, RUN!"

The well refined accent screaming encouragement or order or whatever it was intended as, seemed to spur on the young man, and for a moment, Nick didn't mind any which way that this could possibly be his last day on earth. For a moment Nick had no objections to their plans, to standing up against the robots, to fighting for what was theirs, and for fighting for what was right!

A massive thump ripped through the night sky. It was followed through with a powerful shock wave that knocked the trees down and the men and women off their feet. Gettys found himself tumbling along the scratchy ground, he banged up against a few of the tougher pieces of wood sticking out of the dirt, he scrapped along rocks and dirt and charred pieces of God only knew what. Finally he made an uncontrolled stop, he groaned, but still aware and still capable of moving, he rolled himself over onto his back and began to sit up. The huge fire ball had engulfed the entire facility and valley that it lay in.

"Holy shit".

He turned to his right and saw Nick standing there, his clothes ripped by the force of the blast and his hair singed by the heat. It was his turn to offer assistance and reached down and helped the elder up.

"OH MY GOD! LOOK!"

A woman's scream reached their ears, they turned to see Pippy pointing just before she turned and started running. They pivoted to view what had caused her screams. Out of the fire ball was flying a small red plane, but its size made it no less dangerous. It opened fire on the group. The first blast striking the woman and disintegrating her without effort. Her death would have been so quick it was unlikely she would have even been aware that it had happened. The men just watched as her ashen remains blew along on the pulsating shock waves the fire was producing.

"GO!"

The English voice screamed, though where Chumley was the criminal and his student friend couldn't pin point. They just followed orders and ran.

The red plane resembled an A-10 thunderbolt II, but its markings were far from human. The face insignia that he'd come to learn meant the Autobot Empire was blazoned on the side and it started to dive towards him and his young companion. Gettys rolled to the side, slamming into large dried trunks of wood as the robot fired a series of lasers at them. They missed, but the damage they caused to the ground would be there for a long time. The dried roots of the trees began to ignite and the edges of the craters began to burn. The remains of the once tall trees and clumps of dirt were thrown up in every which direction as the blasts struck. Gettys ran to the right of a series of blasts, noting another one of their companion being turned to dust by the machine. He turned his eyes from the carnage, focussed on a point on the horizon and just ran. Nick, leaner and fitter managed to run faster then the ex-con and it just gave Gettys something else to focus on. The blasts were coming thick and fast and he was suddenly aware of intense heat on his left, turning his face he saw a huge plume of burning dirt flick upwards and towards him, showering him with sharp pieces of sticks and burning embers. He was on his belly again; pushing himself up onto his knees seemed to becoming more tiring, he twisted his waist and saw the jet coming in again for another strafe. The fight or flight instinct kicked in and he found the energy to get up again, the blast that had pushed him down had also caused him to loose sight of Nick. He yelled out for the boy but his voice couldn't make it over the noise of smouldering dead trees and burning clumps of dirt… and flesh. Gettys gave himself no moment to contempt those who were responsible for the burning meat; he started running again, but lost his balance on an unstable branch and started tumbling down the other side of the hill.

Gettys stopped when his face smacked into the beginning incline of the joining hill. He was grazed, sore and had the rather powerful taste of burnt dirt in his mouth, mingled with the distinct sensation of warmth running down his face – blood. Pushing himself up he was aware of the pain in his sides and most predominately in his right leg, he was going to have to ignore it if he wanted to make it out of this mess alive. The plane roared over again, but seemed to strafing in another direction, away from him, good news for the ex-con but not for whoever was the target. Where were those Decepticons when you needed them? He was up and found himself looking at the steep incline of the next lot of hills. He couldn't remember it being so high, mind you, he had been walking down it… so maybe that was it, realising his thoughts were wandering and that could get him killed he began to run along the edge of the hill's incline, wondering if maybe he ran along he could get far enough away from the action that he could then climb the small mountain without too much worry of being blasted by that thing. It passed over again and blasted a huge chunk out of the hillside, a small landslide poured down towards him. He gave caution to the wind and just ran, the pain screaming at him from every cell in his body. He had to ignore it. He had to forget about Nick and Chumley and Pippy… well, not Pippy she was dead, and just focus on getting out alive. Then when he was safe he could worry about his companions and his "commander".

The crook ran for a good three minutes, the sounds of the flames and explosions getting further and further behind him – which was a good sign. He started to slow down to a stumbling, wheezing jog. His heavy set body, joints worn with middle age, didn't make it easy. Reaching a section with a multitude of boulders and rocks and other debris that had come down in the robot caused land slide. Gettys gave thought to the logic of hiding in amongst those rocks, he still had his blanket, would those things give him shelter? Would they notice? What if the landslides continued and he was covered over with more rubble? What if they started a search, maybe their senses wouldn't pick him up, but a search with hands and tools probably would. It was best, he decided to just continue, and try and make it back to the basement thing. He couldn't' even remember where it was – couldn't even remember if it was a town hall, school, church, civilian basement or whatever that he was supposed to take shelter in. At least for the most part the plane seemed to have lost interest and was now no longer shooting at them or flying over. OF course, that could mean anything – it could mean it had landed and was now killing those up close and personal. Fucking things. He grumbled verbally as he struggled over loose rock, the blanket acting like a poncho with a hole for the head swaying about him on the currents created by the near by fires and continuing explosions from the facility.

After a good three hours he was no longer able to hear the sounds of the fires, but he could still see the glow off in the distance when he looked behind him. He was standing on a small flat range on the summit of one of the hills he had climbed. It stood at the foot of a large mountain range it started to merge into. They hadn't come down from the mountain, rather walked around it. It wasn't high enough that he hadn't been able to see its tip, so that meant to him that it was probably climbable. He found himself a small cave to climb into, pulling in some rocks around him to help add shelter and pulling the ratty blanket up over his head he drifted off to sleep – or attempted too. The sleep he gingerly entered would be full of nightmares and thoughts of those he had left behind to their deaths.


	10. Chapter 10

**Socius**

**(Accomplice)**

Part Two

Fēmina

(Woman)

**Chapter Ten**

The rain had been steady for the past four days. It was heavy with the ashen remains of human civilisation and the flora that had burned in the firestorm those machines had lit. It still sounded like rain. It was still a nuisance when one was waiting to rush from one place to the next without falling victim to its cold soaking powers. She'd sat there in the old McDonalds. At first she'd had a quick rush of old childhood nostalgia when she saw the large bouncy cage shaped as a Grimace and the huge Mayor Burger thing whose arms held swing chains. Of course, the Grimace had rusted and the seats of the swings were gone. The rest of the playgrounds once joy inducing remnants were now so badly damaged and decayed by age she was concerned to even be within a few metres of them.

Once the wind picked up and started blowing the rain inwards towards where she sat on the small outside seats, she sought a way in. The inner sanctum of the aged building was rather creepy. Without the usual humming florescent lights glaring out unnatural beams the building was essentially closed to visual scrutiny. The large windows had been boarded up and those that remained were caked in filth, both from age and neglect and what the recent devastation had rained down. She sat with her foot in the door, allowing at least a few slithers of light to snake in and at least give some illumination to the once busy serving counter. A cash register still sat in the middle, and scratches on the tile bench indicated there had been many others. Why the one in the middle still remained, she didn't know. There wasn't much else in the restaurant; the booths in the corners and along the windows still remained, obviously nailed to the floors, but nothing else.

Occasionally a few skittering sounds rose above the rain, rats probably. The rain was soothing. She smiled and lent her head against the door frame and looked up at the ceiling. It was nice to have some peace. Closing her eyes she imagined herself back home, on the Whare hui1, sitting with her siblings and cousins, their feet bare, backs against the poupou2, listening to their tipuna tane3 tell stories of their ancestors and how they had come to this part of the country. The rain would be drizzling, as it tended to do in that part of the country at that part of the year, her uncles, father and their friends would be outside laying down the hangi4, the smell would waft through the Marae5. It was fantastic. The sense of Whanau6, of belonging, of knowing where you came from and where you were going. The most wonderful thing, according to her kaumatuas7, was knowing that even though you would die, the life you lived, the stories you were told, the place you grew up, and the beliefs and values you sat listening to right now, they would be passed on to your descendants. The outside world may change, but the world they had made for themselves for endure.

Somewhere, in her heart, she felt that despite all of this crap, the robots, the genocide and the tragedy they had bought to this planet, life would go on, her culture would prevail. She imagined the Whare being rebuilt, the poupou with their amazingly carved figures of ancestors and the gods they worshipped being raised again to support the roof that would protect them and shelter them, and a huge feast laid down in the earth. The happy sounds of women chatting and the smells they made as they cooked and mixed up deserts, the reassuring sounds of the men discussing everything from their elders to politics to the rugby, the funny sounds of the young boys doing Haka8, and the girls singing and waving poi9. Yes, her descendants would be happy, they would prevail and prosper and those damn robots would be something the kids would learn about in history books, not something real, something they would deal with. She could almost feel herself there, walking through the drizzle, wrapped in morning fog and the haze those things caused, heading to the Whare to join in. To kiss her mother and hug her father, to greet her siblings and laugh with her cousins. To eat the first kumara10 of the season, to grab a plate of fresh pig straight off the spit, to enjoy the crackling covered with salt and gravy, to pile on a heap of fresh of coleslaw and grab a big glass of juice, to sing, laugh, joke and then feast on pudding, the pavalova11 would be smothered in fresh cream and juicy strawberries and blackberries picked by the kids from the back of the property. They'd come back covered in leaves and scratches and the dark purple juice, giggling and chuckling and running and throwing the dodgier, smushier berries at each other.

Life had been good.

And life would be good, again.

It was just a matter of time, a matter of fighting for what they wanted, for what they believed, for what they knew was right. For their lives.

Her eyes flicked open abruptly, both at the realisation she was going to have to fight, she was going to have to do something… what she didn't know, but she'd figure it out. Maybe head back and try and find the resistance… or a resistance, but mainly her eyes had flicked opened due to the sound of footsteps on soggy gravel near by.

They were definitely not robotic in nature. She stood slowly, her back sliding upwards against the door's frame. A few careful steps back into the restaurant and a hand of the door pulling it back but holding it open just enough that she could see the man walking slowly through the carpark. He stopped and stared up at the huge M on the roof… obviously thinking of more indulgent days when if you wanted a Big Mac you just got in your car and used the coins in the ash tray to buy one.

He looked so sullen. Head down, shoulders slumping, feet scuffing, hands brushing at his side without higher thoughts. He appeared depressed as hell; of course with the current climate it wasn't surprising. The issue then became did she help him? He could be so psychologically damaged that he could go nuts and kill her… but then, professionally she was obliged to help him, as a person she was obliged to help him, as a human, as another survivor, as someone who wanted the future to be bright for her descendants, as someone who wanted earth back in hands of flesh and blood…

"Hey!"

She yelled as she stepped outside the door. The man looked up and just seemed flabbergasted to see another person, another living person. He took a staggering step towards the restaurant and just shuddered with absolute shock at seeing another.

"You right, mate?"

She yelled back, hoping like hell nothing was around to pick up her vocalisations, he nodded and the started to jog towards her. She noticed a limp in his skinny little legs. Poor bastard. She'd lost a good heap of weight too, fatty foods and plenty of it was no longer readily available. Taking a few quick steps to the gate, she opened it and let him in.

"Inside and get out of the rain".

She said rather simply.

"Thanks. Never thought I'd see another person again. Well… not outside the camps or in a grave".

"I hear ya".

"My name's Lewis Cedar. How bout you?"

"Rangimarie… or just Marie if you can't wrap your American tongue around it".

She chuckled.

"Maori?"

"_Yeah_. How'd you…"

"I used to be a teacher, I taught the kids a unit on the Maori people".

"Awesome".

"So, what lands you in America?"

"Came here for a job. Thanks to some giant homicidal robots it didn't quite work out how I planned".

He nodded and sat down in the door way.

"How'd you end up here?"

She asked.

"Long story short – those things came, I escaped, met some other people, they ended up dead, kept running and then just found my way down here. I ran into a few people a few months back, told me that there was less activity down in Mexico, but when I got there found out they were full of shit, so I started back up and stumbled upon this little town stead. What of you?"

"Long story short? Those things came, I escaped, met some people, the got caught by those bastards, they put me in some lab where they experimented on us – I'm guessing they want to see what our weakness are, our strengths, figure out what makes us tick. Then made it out here. I've found some caves not far from the outskirts that I've been living in, gives good protection, but I came down here to harvest some vegetables I planted a while back. I was surprised they took. But the rain started and I wasn't in any mood to try and get back up the mountains in this weather".

She held the sack of small, dirt covered potatoes and a few carrots.

"I'll share whatever I have with you, Lewis".

"Thanks".

They sat quiet for almost two hours just listening to the rain until it slowed enough that Marie decided to lead him to her home in the caves.

--

1Whare hui – meeting house

2Poupou – support beam, often in the whare hui, decoratively carved

3Tipuna Tane - grandfather

4hangi – using hot stones to cook food wrapped in tinfoil or leaves covered in dirt

5Marae – the land a Whare hui and other structures sits on

6Whanau - family

7Kaumatuas - elders

8Haka – war dance

9Poi – a soft ball on a string, used in performances

10kumara – sweet potato

11pavalova – a desert created in New Zealand (Despite what the Aussies say), made with egg whites and sugar, served with cream and fresh fruit.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

The rain had caused the dried earth to turn to sludge; the added ash and dust from the upper atmosphere certainly didn't help the matter. Rangi trudged up the hillside towards the caves she had come to know so well. Her companion followed behind.

"You thought about hiding down on the flat?"

He asked as they found themselves walking along a few metres of flat.

"Yeah…"

She replied, the sludge oozing over her soggy boots.

"Why don't you then?"

"Not really that safe. Just cos those things aren't around at the moment doesn't mean they won't show up at some stage. They're pretty notorious for taking out human settlements, even the small ones, so I don't hold out much hope of them leaving this place be if they find it".

She explained.

"I saw this one that liked to burn everything, people, buildings, trees, whatever it could get its hands on".

He replied.

"A few of them are like that. But they're all pretty clunky so I doubt they'd have good footing up this high".

"There are plane ones?"

"Yeah, I've seen them. You see the good ones?"

"Good ones?"

"Yeah. I forgot the name they use but apparently those things are in some kind of civil war and we've just got stuck in the middle of it".

"Well, why the fuck would they come down here for?"

"I dunno exactly, something about needing more fuel, something about being total maniacs, something about wanting to conquer the entire universe".

"You met them, these good guys?"

"Yeah, they saved me once, from a rather nasty bad robot. Dumped me on the doorstep of some human resistance cell".

"A human resistance cell? There's resistance?"

"Yeah".

"How's it doing?"

"Dunno exactly, I kinda didn't stay around very long".

"Why did you leave?"

"I got separated from a group of them. Then the shit hit the fan and I ended up caught by the bad ones, when I escaped I didn't want to lead any that might follow me back to the cell's base. Of course, to be honest, I don't' think I would have been able to find them again, I just didn't know the area".

"You haven't tried to find another cell?"

"Not as of yet, but I was thinking about doing a little bit of damage myself just before you showed up".

"I've had a lot of time to think about that too… I saw some _things, _some horrible, horrible things. If you'd asked me a few months back if I'd want to be fighting those things I'd have told you to fuck off, but now, well, now I don't really care, but I'd rather go out fighting then in one of their camps or worse".

"So, you wanna start a cell, then?"

There was almost a hint of amusement to her voice, as though she was kidding, though given the situation it was highly unlikely that she was completely adverse to the idea.

"Sure, why not? But what would two of us do?"

"I thought we could do some minor things, like blowing up their factories and camps, maybe ambushing their supply routes? I don't know what the logistics of those things, but I'm sure we could come up with something".

"I've seen quite a few of their camps, factories and mines as I've travelled. I think they're strip mining our planet dry".

"It'd make sense. I've been in their base".

"Holy shit. Really?"

"Its where they took me when they used me as a guinea pig. I didn't know till I got outside the thing. It was like a huge space ship that crashed into some mountain. I think it's been there for millions of years given the amount of rock and sedimentary formations above it".

"So they've been sitting right under our bloody noses for probably the entire length of our evolution".

"Yeah. I ran into some people in the first week or so and they said they'd been doing research. Got online and checked out our structures, everything from government military policies, to what our parking wardens wear. They've taken out all the armed forces and cops and authorities they could get their hands on".

"Well, it makes sense, strategically. Know your enemy before you destroy them. Though it seems kinda odd, though, you'd think if they crashed here they'd just bowl out and take the planet's resources from the dinos or something".

"Apparently they were in some kind of coma from the crash, and some volcanic eruption knocked them into consciousness, and that was back in the 70s or 80s or something, and since then they've been collecting intel and biding their time".

"Regardless, it's creepy and I'll be more then happy to join your little resistance cell, Rangimarie".

The two shared a laugh as they continued their slog up the now steepening incline.

"So what'd you use to do, Rang, why'd you leave your pretty country for this place?"

There was a hint of amusement to his statement, just like they were enjoying a normal conversation in a normal situation without any knowledge or awareness of an alien robot invasion.

"I'm a nurse. I worked my arse off, got the money the came out here to take a job in an Emergency. I'd wanted to work in an ED since I was a student, but they usually don't take you unless you've got a heap of experience in certain areas".

"Like where?"

"I started out in a cardiac unit, then I moved into intensive care, I've also done mental health, burns and a stint in maternity".

"Just in New Zealand?"

"Nah, I did ICU in Aussie, mental health in the UK, burns in Dubai and maternity in South Africa".

"So you've been all over, then?"

"Yeah, just never to the states before now. I wanted to see more of your country, but this wasn't quite sure how I thought I'd be doing it".

"Funny how the universe works".

The two shared an ironic laugh.

"Not much longer".

She said a few moments later as they neared a rather nasty looking section of rocks. The dead trees provided quite a good lot of cover, their dried, dead branches causing some level of distraction to anything that might be flying over head or within about ten metres.

Reaching a section of cliff face with boulders and rocks scattered about, Lewis wondered if she was lost, noticing his expression she reassured him with a smile and a flick of the wrist moving away the grey sheet of material that covered the entrance. It was ragged and shale in colour, and it provided a good deal of camouflage. She reached into her sack and removed a torch and the shone it down into the dark recesses of the cave.

"Where did you get that torch?"

He asked, surprised as it was the first source of artificial light he'd seen that worked in months.

"Found it in some old run down factory in what must have been a civil defence shelter out the back".

The light shone down into the darkness and provided some level of reality. They entered the subterranean world that would offer both protection from the robots and a place to plot against them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"I gotta admit, I was a tad cynical when you mentioned the word "cave", but you've actually done a good job Feng Shui-ing this place".

Lewis chuckled as they sat in the dimly lit chamber.

"I was thinking of hauling some cement or something in here or bricks or something to stabilise the walls and maybe just add a bit more comfort".

"The draining system was a nice touch".

"Yeah, plus it has the added bonus of collecting clean water. As long as it's boiled, I guess…"

"Mind you, there's some pretty narrow passages back there, it'd be hard to get a lot of the stuff in".

"There's another entrance sort of behind where we are, but the tunnel it leads into snakes around and the comes out near the bottom about 20 Ks from where we got in. Problem is, that entrance is kind of difficult to access, a lot of steep rock faces and a lot of dead bushes and such. They provide cover and the roots probably keep the hill side streaming down into the valley so I've left them be".

"You thought about working on the tunnels themselves? Maybe stabilise them like they do in mines and then chip away at the sides till they're wide enough to get things in".

"I thought about it, yeah, but it's hard if there's just the one of you, and it's kinda hard to find sturdy material around… of course, with another set of hands…"

She chuckled as she looked in his direction.

"Well, it'd be something to do other then sitting around in here talking about stabilising this old hole".

"The other thing I've been up to has been trying to find materials for explosives. I grew up on a farm so I'm pretty good at cooking up bombs, but this old town has been empty a long time so there's not much around".

"Perhaps we could sneak into one of those robot bases and see if we could score something… or is that a completely crazy idea?"

"Yip, its completely crazy, but sometimes crazy works, and in this situation, we might as well give it ago".

"I saw a smaller camp up North way about a six day hike, its not an easy road, but with that said – they might be less inclined to think that's where we came from and won't search so far down".

"Yeah, I think I know the one you're talking about. The one with the two huge towers that sit on some small artificial hills?"

"I'm guessing so, but I've seen a number of bases over the last few months that had that set up".

"Hmmm, they probably do have some kind of status quo for construction. But I still think I know where you're talking about".

She got up and went to a small wooden chest in the corner of the cave. It sat on a piece of plastic sheeting which extended upwards and then jutted out on two makeshift sticks to offer protection from the damp that would roll down the walls. She removed a pile of papers from it and bought it back to their small plastic sheet covered seating area.

"You talking about this area?"

She asked as she rolled the home made map outwards and pointed to a specific location. He examined it for a moment and then looked at the actual map, labelled "up to date for 1981" written in the corner.

"Yeah… that's exactly what I'm talking about… where'd you get that?"

He meant the "real" map.

"I found an old book shop and while it was mostly empty there were a few boxes in a stock room out the back which had some of these in there. They're probably even out of date for this town, but I'm not interested in how to get from Main Street to Industrial Drive, the surrounding bush and hills and stuff are mapped correctly".

"So, where are we on this thing?"

"Right about here…"

She pointed.

"I didn't want to mark out the location in case the maps were ever found by the enemy, last thing I needed was them showing up on my doorstep… and quirky, paranoid little idea of mine is even more useful now that there's two of us… and maybe more if we can kick this resistance thing off".

She added.

"Although, I did make a map of the caves…"

She went back to the trunk and started rummaging around through it until she found a single piece of A4 paper with some black and blue lines drawn on it. Showing it to him:

"The blue lines are obviously the water sources, the black lines are the tunnels and chambers… I didn't want to do an outline of the range or hill or whatever in case it was found and someone could figure out the geographical location of this little underground we've got going on here".

She explained.

"Looks good".

He murmured as he continued to examine the maps.

"So, before I showed up, did you have any other real plans, resistance wise?"

He asked.

"Sort of, but with only myself, most of them were grossly unrealistic, of course, adding one more person is helpful, but we're still really not some massive army which can move on the robot scourge".

She chuckled, but still with enough seriousness in her voice to sound sane.

"Well, I can tell you there are bases, there… there and over by that range there".

He picked up a small marker and put a dot at each point.

"I knew about those two, but not the one by that range area there, but I haven't been up near there… well, I don't think so. Is it very big? Because I think I would have noticed a huge alien robot facility".

"Yeah, its pretty big. I think they must be mining ore or something from the mountains, though… I've never seen any humans there".

"Well, it'd be a good place to have a base, you get the added defence those mountains provide, not to mention, if that forest hasn't been scorched off the face of the earth they'd have all that extra cover".

"I don't think it'd be a viable target for the two of us… of course, if there's two of us, that's only two of us for them to see, and if they're being slack with security we could be able to sneak in and out".

"Possibly. As you say its got its pros and cons, but I'd say we start off slow, maybe go for this base here, its quite small and not well defended, but regardless, its got to have at least something of value there, and its far enough away that they couldn't pin point this location as our origin".

"The question then becomes, how do we do it?"

"We could just sneak down there and poke around for a few days?"

"Know your enemy… sounds like a plan. There's a vineyard here, it has an underground wine cellar we could maybe hide in while we do the scouting. I'm pretty sure it's still there, it was when I passed through the area to get here".

He pointed to an area on the map.

"I can't see it on the map, but there's actually a small sub-division of houses here, just about ten, maybe fifteen and a heap in the process of construction and a heap of cleared land just to the east of the vineyard. They're still standing undamaged so obviously those things haven't bothered about it or considered it. I don't think people actually lived in them, though".

He continued.

"The roading is rather good, but from here to here it's basically gravel. A manmade water processing plant is here… or all these things were last I saw them a few weeks back".

"If the road along that passage is decent the bastards might be using it for their own purpose".

"Maybe, I dunno, Rangi, there really isn't anything valuable along those roads; I think it was built just to make it easier for the construction vehicles to get into that cleared area".

"You're probably right… is there much cover along this area? The map shows forested area but obviously that's been cleared?"

"Not in the immediate location, but within a mile, maybe two around the sub-division's perimeter is when it starts out to pad out with some trees and the likes".

"We'll, there's bound to be construction materials there… of course, hauling it back this far…"

"True, very true, so even if we don't do anything to their facility we'll at least not have wasted the walk".

"Do you remember if there were construction vehicles?"

"Actually… yeah, but they were all locked up behind a fenced area".

"If we could get in, we could get ourselves some fuel. Stealing a bulldozer might be less then inconspicuous".

"We could still do some damage though, if we grabbed something and drove it their way".

"Yeah, we could… even if we knocked down a few of their structures, or tore up the road, anything would be better then doing nothing".

"We're actually going to try and cause them some damage with stolen construction vehicles?"

"Absolutely".

"Seriously, Marie, we're going to get involved in this war?"

"It'll be fun. You'll see".

"Haha. I've never been adverse to a bit of fun".


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

"I don't think its going to stop".

Lewis said about the rain as they trudged along the banks of a once clean river.

She stopped ahead of him and stood and looked down into the sludge that passed as water.

"You think it's dirty because of what's in the air now or because of something we did?"

"Dunno. Maybe that's while this region was abandoned because of muck in the water".

He replied.

"Maybe".

They both turned and continued their journey.

It was day three and the river was a long snaking wound that penetrated deep into the soggy earth, it kept them company during their long venture. The only good thing about the sinking pile of liquid mush was that there weren't copious amounts of body parts floating along, maybe the occasional dead squirrel or some other woodland creature.

"At least we can use it to find our way back… of course those metal bastards might think the same thing".

Lewis stated.

"Yeah, true. But we've got the map so we know other ways back to the tunnels".

"We haven't sorted a contingency play if none of this pans out".

"You think we're going to fail that miserably?"

He laughed.

"Haha, well, you never know, it's not like either of us has ever done this before".

"We could always use that vineyard as our rendezvous if this doesn't work..."

"Well, I'm sure we'll find some other place to head to if the shit hits the fan".

"Do you think we'll actu…"

"Actually…?"

She stopped, turned and faced him.

"Sssh…"

He hushed her, holding his hands up and his eyes wide, obviously he was aware of something, or believed he was aware of something.

Suddenly she heard it too. A dry crack, it didn't sound natural, it wasn't the sound a branch made when it was picked up by wind, or when it fell from a tree, it wasn't the sound an animal would make if it walked over something. It was unnatural. It was alien.

There a movement, both sensed it and their bodies turned quickly in the direction they were sure it came from. Simultaneously they ducked down the river bank and buried themselves into the muck and dead reeds that still protruded from the dead earth. The heavy dirty rain continued to fall on them as they hid, watching the area where they were both sure the sound had come from.

He pointed with his finger, not stretching his arm out for fear of making too much sound during movement. She followed his digit and saw the flecks of yellow, red and silver.

"Is… is that a stegosaurus?"

Lewis asked, his voice hushed.

"A… a robot one…"

She replied, voice equally hushed in tone and equally surprised.

The robotic monster spun around suddenly, but it didn't appear to be in response to the two organics who watched, frightened, from the grimy, slippery banks of the river. Its massive tail smashed down already fragile trees, a simple tilt and the tail's huge triangular panels dug into the soggy dirt and flicked it upwards and everywhere, leaving a huge trench in the earth.

Mud slid down the slight decline towards them, it was like a gentle wave as it moved with the vibrations this metallic beast caused. Suddenly a heavier thump was felt by the two, and another, there were several in succession… footsteps. The Tyrannosaurus came into view and it stood by the other and seemed to be communicating with it.

"Look…"

She whispered.

"At its chest…"

She finished.

The icon it had brandished on its metal frame – the face, the red face.

Autobots.

They might not look like normal robots, nor appear usual or useful (what purpose could robots have for taking on forms of beasts that lost the battle with meteors millions of years in the past?)

Suddenly the T-Rex paused and looked straight in their direction. Lewis ducked down into the muck while she just froze, knowing the dead reeds were giving her ample cover. It was Lewis' sudden movement that led to their discovery.

"HOO-MANS!"

The Stegosaurus roared as it started storming towards them.

"RUN!"

Lewis screamed.

"WHAT? We can't run in this!! Get into the water!"

The nurse screamed back as she noticed just how sticky the mud they were now knee deep in was. She twisted awkwardly in the stuff, pulling several muscles in her back as she tried to get free enough to move into that polluted liquid that ran behind them. Lewis had fallen backwards and pulled his legs out of the goo before rolling onto his front and sliding down towards the river.

The creature continued to stampede behind them, but as the muck slowed them down, it seemed to be just as much a nuisance to the robot. The T-Rex just stood and watched. Waited. For what the humans didn't know and didn't want to know.

Lewis made it to the water first, on his belly he slid from the gluggy mud into the foul tasting, heavy, gritty liquid that passed as water. It was freezing and he found the coolness of it sapping his strength. This wouldn't help, of course, given how much he'd need to muster to escape both the encapsulating sludge and the robotic dinosaurs, that more then likely, would have no less blood lust. Thigh deep and increasing he felt his feet clambering for stability on the river's fall, crunching sensations passed up through his shoes and into his consciousness. His ankle buckled as he awkwardly stumped over immersed remains…, he really didn't need two guesses to know it was a skull. He lost his balance completely and fell forward into the water, the heavy particles that drifted throughout and the ash and dust that floated on top gravitated to him and seemed to cling to his ratty clothing. The gunk, the cold, the water, was pulling him down to a hopeless death – at least not at the hands of that machine, he thought as he descended towards death at the bottom.

She saw him stagger, slide and plop into the murky black waters that flowed before them. At first she wasn't at all concerned, until she remembered an American doctor telling her a good deal of people in this country couldn't swim… some hadn't even seen a major body of water like a river or ocean. She hoped like hell he wasn't one of them. Yet, his sudden stagger and then subsequent flailing of his limbs as he splashed about to regain his stability told her he might be – of course, he could just be cold and panicked. Like she was. She gave a quick glance behind her to try and gauge where the monster was. It seemed to be caught by a large portion of dead trees, their dried branches so mutated and twisted that they entangled the beast. Of course, this wouldn't' last long given the alien's fire power. The mud was probably what was holding him up the longest. Deciding not to give further consideration to that thing she turned her attention back to her American colleague. Propelling herself up from the sludgy grounds towards the water proved more difficult then she had envisioned, but managed to make contact with the water a few metres behind the struggling Yank. Her feet still had a connection with the sticky bank and she used that to give further propulsion towards the man. The force of her actions managed to give him a manner of stability and freedom he was able to turn more readily and pull her a few metres until they were both free of the mess of the shore, but still now had to deal with the cold and the weight of the water that passed about them.

Gasping for air as the filthy muck flicked up in her face as they paddled, she found herself wondering if diving into this stuff was such a good idea. They were swimming next to each other; the strength of the current was pushing them down stream slightly.

"It'd be insane to try and make it across".

She yelled against the waving water.

"Yeah, that robot could just jump right across".

He called back.

She hadn't actually thought that, she was more concerned with the current.

"We should just let the flow carry us, we can't fight it, but maybe it can give us a bit of an edge".

He screeched his mouth filling with the dirty water on several occasions.

"Yeah!"

She called back.

Both obviously aware that it was more then probable the creatures could hear them. Yet, they had no other plan.

They grabbed each other tightly and let the massive surges of the river push them along towards a destination they might not desire, and would certainly not know.

Rangimarie managed to turn herself just enough to get another look back at the robo dinos, and was quite shocked to see that within only a few seconds they were at least 50 metres away, and the distance between them was increasing. While she was not one to complain about such luck, she was starting to get concerned about the absolute force this river was exerting about them. How far would it carry them? What would it deposit them in? Would it wash them straight out to sea? She had no way of knowing that, and nor did her companion. The taste of it filled her mouth suddenly as she badly timed a gasp for air. She coughed and spluttered out as much as she could manage before she was lifted up on a wave high enough that she could see the Stegosaurus free of the mud and racing alongside the river.

"HOLY SHIT!!"

Obviously Lewis had seen it too. She realised as she heard him curse beside her.

Its mouth opened and fire spewed out and ripped across the dirt filled liquid. Both humans managed to duck below as the heat tore over the surface, the oily deposits ignited and were fuelled by the particles that floated along despite them being soaked through. Rangi found herself looking upwards at the flickering oranges, reds and yellows that lay on the water, bubbles floated upwards from her lungs popping through into the inferno above. She vigorously swished her limbs in an attempt to stop herself ascending into what would be a very unpleasant and prolonged demise. It was an eerie sensation really, fighting to stay under the water, under the fire, for fire to just exist on top of water… enemies in nature perhaps, but now well complemented. She was aware of movement and bubbles to her left, Lewis probably… hopefully. There was no point worrying about him now; there was nothing she could do to help him. Twisting her body around she began to propel herself as fast and with as much strength as she could muster, hoping the current was as strong so deep below the surface. Digging her toes into the ground she was able to give extra force to push herself along, hoping, praying, needing air and wanting life. She could see blackness up ahead, dark that indicated the fires weren't' burning there yet. Or perhaps she was just swimming towards her death. A man's screamed passed around her in the depths, hopefully he was just swearing again.

She surfaced.

A quick look in every direction her head could quickly crane told her the creature was in the water, behind her, and the flames were surrounding it. Lewis was bobbing up ahead of her, about five, six metres.

"Lewis!"

She cried out, water spluttering out her mouth as her body demanded air. It was an unpleasant sensation, but one she would have to ignore. The taste, well, that was something she'd probably be stuck with for a good deal of time now.

"MARIE!!"

He reached out with his left hand, his right smacking up against the water to try and keep him from sinking.

"HURRY!"

He bellowed, desperation in his voice. The currents carried them close to each other.

A heavy wave poured down over them, caused by the beast's movement through the grotty fluid. What small amount of distance they had between them now was quickly removed. Rangi found herself being washed forcefully down towards an unknown destination, passed Lewis and unable to grab him.

"LEWIS!"

She screamed as she watched him pass by. Soon she found herself alone, far ahead of the violently crafted waves, the monsters, and the first person she'd seen alive and not mentally defected in ages.

Swimming with what strength she could muster she made it to the shore and clambered up and out. She ran along for about ten metres until and around a bend until she could see the glistening of the flames and the roars of the monsters. A human screamed rose up over it all. She was close. A wave smacked her in the face and she was knocked back down into the depths again. The wave was so forceful it penetrated the surface rather violently become an uneasy undercurrent which slammed her into the bone covered bottom. Even in the cold, murky deep it was still possible to have the wind knocked out of her. It took a few mouth fills of the foul stuff to get her focussed again, legs kicking off the bottom, fingers splayed she managed to get enough memento to make it back to the evil the surface world presented.

Lewis was right next to her when she came up, he was gasping and wide eyed, his hair was singed and there were some minor burns to the left side of his face, shock was obviously setting in. Seeing the beast move in the water it was strange not for her to loose control as well, but she'd seen enough shit, and lived through enough encounters with these monsters that she knew when we was going to have to pull out the courage and ignore the pain in her own body and the pain displayed through the faces of those around her. She grabbed Lewis by his collar and started pulling him through the liquid sludge. Adrenalin was released by her brain as flight or fight reflexes kicked in, no point fighting, that wasn't going to be a smart option.

The stegosaurus seemed to be having as much difficulty in the river as they were, it was sinking deep in the muck, but it still had the ability to shoot waves of flames towards them. She pulled him down under the only protection they had, the fire rolled over the top of the sludge they hid within. Lewis seemed to click that now was not the time to panic, his body eased and the two of them started clambering along the bottom of the river, their fingers digging into the muck that held so many bones and ruins. They began to surface, more from need of air then of a sense of safety. Once their heads bobbed up the flames were still burning, but it seemed to be giving them some protection from the beast that was still flailing about in the water, the fire was ripping up so high their tiny forms were shielded by it.

"We need to get out of the water".

She whispered to him as they held each other. His only response to her was a nod and a turn to the bank.

They managed to paddle their way to the shore and finally, the water flowed down from their sore and singed bodies, they were free of the muck.

"We should separate, meet back at the rendezvous point we discussed".

Lewis stated.

"There's two of them".

She pointed out.

He suddenly remembered the T-Rex.

"We don't have time!"

She added, grabbing him and turning, they began to run towards the sparse thicket of dead trees that ran along the other side of the river and upwards over a small series of hills and natural curves.

They were, of course, right behind them.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

The dried branches of the long deceased trees scratched across his exposed face, tearing with pain into his already sensitive burns. He bit down on the inside of his cheek if only to prevent the cry he wanted to utter. No need giving those things an easy time in finding them. Rangimarie was coming up behind him, pushing him occasionally with her dirty hands. The stink that the river left on them hung strong on the air around them. The robots were close, their heavy footsteps thumping behind.

"DOWN!"

He heard the woman scream just before he felt her tackle him.

"Fire".

She whispered in his ear as the environment around them increased in heat. The dried trees proved to be excellent fuel for the holocaust the beast had set upon them as it opened its mouth and released wave after wave of flame.

Thankfully they flattened in time and it was the tops of the dried flora that bore the brunt of the carnage.

"We can't stay here, we'll be burned alive, we need to get out of the forest".

The woman bellowed over the roar of the flames. Judging by his face she didn't have to say it. Both seemed to think simultaneously and began to rush towards the edge of the lightly wooded area. They burst out of the brush under the roar of the dying flames, albeit the creature was beginning to feed them once more with another round of fuel.

Once away from the tangled dried mess that passed as trees started to thin out, providing them with another problem:

"We're a fucking open target!"

He screeched.

"Just keep running".

"HOW'S THAT GOING TO HELP?!!!"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!!"

Her foot caught on something and she was tumbling, falling, rolling, nothing she could do was able to stop her momentum. The woman clipped her male companion and he too fell into an uncontrolled spin. The ground started to decline steeply and it only served to add to the speed of their fall. In her mind she realised she was probably moving faster and so randomly as to be a difficult target for her pursuer. With that knowledge, or at least hint, she accepted her unorthodox transport and let herself continue. She had no idea if her new friend had the same thought but he was certainly in no position to come to a stop either.

She was aware she was falling, that her body, her limbs weren't brushing against anything solid.

"OH SHIT!!"

She screamed as the realisation that they'd rolled of a cliff hit her. Gravity twisted her around slightly and she could see the sludgy muck that passed as water below. Splashing into it was less then comfortable, but it was thick enough and deep enough that both did not received fatal or inconveniencing injury.

"Look! There's a cave! We can hide there".

He cried to her, his head bobbing above the oil like liquid.

"Yeah!"

She started paddling towards the shore, Lewis making headways behind her.

IT was then she realised, weren't they just in a river? They hadn't just gone around in circles? No, they couldn't have because they'd rolled down hill… she turned and saw Lewis, he was slowing down.

"How's your back?"

She cried to him as she reached out and pulled him to her side.

"Sore, so sore, but it'll have to last".

They clambered up out of the muck together and over the slippery rocks. They slid themselves into the small black entrance.

"I hope like hell this is a cave and not a hole!"

He whimpered as they found themselves in the dark.

They crawled along the floor of the cave; the tunnel was tight, cold and gritty.

"We need to get in as deep as possible, if that thing blasts flame in here we'll be cooked alive".

She gasped as she pushed her hands out in front of her to try and find where they might be going. The light from the murky outside only gave a small view of what was ahead, and it looked rather suspicious.

"Ah! Fuck! Something scratched my leg!"

He screeched.

"Sssh, its probably just a rock. Man, we're in a mountainside, it's not going to be some coke bottle cap".

The tunnel was suddenly bathed in a blue light. The two looked over their shoulders and saw the huge glowing sphere.

"What's that?"

Lewis asked, almost afraid too.

"It's their eye!!"

She squealed and pulled him up so they were both on all fours so they could scurry as quickly as possible. The blue light suddenly changed, to a light glow of orange.

"OH GOD! THIS IS IT!"

Lewis roared, knowing the increasing heat from behind them was the creature getting ready to let rip with a blast of fire.

The flames that were heading towards them provided enough light that they were able to see a twist in the tunnel, the two both noticed it and crawled as quickly as possible around. Both not knowing if it would provide them any safety as they continued to rush on their hands and knees away from death.

There was a sudden cracking sound, several streams of rocks and pebbles started rolling off the ceiling and onto their bodies.

"Oh no".

She whispered.

Lewis looked at her, his eyes widened with fear as he felt the ground underneath them begin to crumble and his heart skipped several beats as the bright orange flames came ripping around the corner.

They were falling again the heat of the flames licking at their heads and they tumbled to the level below.

The flames dissipated quickly as they ripped along the top of the ceiling that now sat above them, a few of the wooden support beams that held that ceiling were burning. The glow providing a view of the new environment they found themselves in.

"We're in a mine".

She said so obviously.

"Well, lets get the fuck away from here".

He groaned, the burns on his back starting to make themselves known.

She bent down and picked up a broken piece of wood and held it up to the burning patch on the beam above them. Lewis ripped a portion of his already singed shirt and wrapped it around the top of the makeshift torch.

"Lets go, before they decide to start stomping around above".

He said, walking ahead of her for a few metres before stopping and taking in the different directions they could head.

"I'd wager if we head left we'll be heading deeper into the mountain".

"True".

"Once we're somewhat safe, I'll take a good look at your back, it looks pretty munted".

"Feels pretty munted".

--

About two minutes from their makeshift entrance a massive cave in dropped several hundred kilogrammes of earth where only a few moments ago they'd been standing.

"Holy shit".

She whispered as the wave of rock poured out towards them.

"Ah, I think we better run!"

Lewis yelled as he turned and starting running off down the mine shaft, the young woman right behind him, afraid her constant quick movement would extinguish the precious flame.

After a few solid minutes of moving the sounds of geographical movement ceased.

"I think its finished".

He gasped as he turned and looked; he continued to pant for a few moments in an attempt to catch his breath. She just stood there watching as a few of the smaller pebbles settled amongst the dust that floated around them. The torch she held still burned.

"It'll go out soon, and I don't we can keep using this".

He waved the remains of his shirt.

"Let's find an exit then".

The two walked in silence along the damp tunnel.

"How long you reckon this place has been here?"

She asked.

"Dunno, but I'm guessing a while given the state of those beams".

"You think its been shut down?"

"I'd imagine so".

They reached another junction; the right tunnel had a set of rail tracks.

"You think that leads in deeper or outside?"

He asked as he reached down and lightly touched the rusting metal.

"I'm not sure, but we turned left back there, so I think we'd be heading deeper into the mountain, of course, who's to say that's not where the exit is?"

"Might as well follow it then?"

"Yeah, might as well".

They began a walk along the unknown track, not knowing if it would lead them to death or to freedom or to something else.

--

The torch was just a mild glow now, the damp on the rock ceiling was dripping down on them, sizzling as it hit the once burning flame, it was soothing on his back though.

"So, what can I expect of my burns".

"Depends on how bad they are. From what I saw before it got too dark I'd say they're just second degree, which isn't great but they're not the worst burns you can get. OF course, I won't know for sure till we're somewhere with better lighting".

"Why did you become a nurse?"

"I wanted to help people. Why did you become a teacher?"

"Because I wanted to teach people".

Their conversation was rather mundane. Probably because they were both tired, stressed and just wanting something to take their minds of the sounds of the mines.

"You think those things could find us? Figure out where we are in the mountain?"

He asked the question they were both thinking.

"I hope like hell no. But unless those bulky bastards can fly, it might take them longer to get round the mountain and find the exit".

"Of course, they could always just collapse the whole mountain".

"Seems like a lot of effort to just kill two blobs of meat… of course with that said what they've done to the whole planet is probably a lot of effort to wipe us out".

They continued in silence.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

She wasn't sure how long they'd been walking but eventually they found themselves in a large chamber. Obviously at some stage it'd been a store room or a rest room for those who worked in the mine. Noticing a pile of old, rusted lamps on a soggy bench. Lewis walked over and picked up a small metal box, it was covered in a thick layer of rust and its hinges had degraded to the point they no longer worked. He picked up a large rock and used it to smash the container open.

"A Davy lamp".

He said as he removed the device from the box.

"A what?"

"A Davy lamp, I'm a bit of a history buff and really like the old mining days, a Davy lamp its a flame lamp, so hoping this one has come pre-packed we might have a longer source of light".

She approached and held the torch over so he could see what he was doing in the fading light.

"Damn, its empty".

"Will this do?"

She asked as she offered a wad of sacking she'd picked up.

"Its pretty damp, but it might get going if we can find some fuel".

He replied.

She dug the bottom of the torch into the dirt and then the two of them began poking about the room's aged objects looking for something, anything that could burn.

"I think I've found some coal".

She said holding up a lump of black rock.

"Yeah, it looks like it".

He said as he approached her.

"So what, do we scrape some fragments off and try to get it going that way?"

"Its worth a try".

It was a fidgety job but eventually a spark flickered to life in the torch and the damp sacking started to burn with the specs of coal.

"So… now what?"

She asked as he closed the small door on the little lamp.

"Uh… I dunno. I'd like to have a rest, but this place is pretty damp and it stinks".

"Well, how about I check your back".

"Its not bothering me so much now".

"Okay, I'll have a look still…. Yeah, nah… these are just second degree burns. They'll blister and hurt and then pop and then just be really uncomfortable but I've seen worse on people who were still able to get about. It'll probably hurt like a bitch for a week, but its not something that's going to kill you".

"Well, that's good to know".

"Okay, so should we move on?"

"Yeah, bring that lump of coal with you and then we ca…."

Lewis trailed off as he handed her the torch and walked over to a large pile of old crates against the damp mouldy wall of the chamber.

"What?"

"Gunpowder is what, and plenty of it…"

"Seriously? Wouldn't it be all wet though?"

"Yeah, but if we dried it out it might be okay, and chances are there might be some dry stuff down here if we poke around a bit".

He lifted the lid off another barrel, finding it filled to the brim with gunpowder.

"Excuse me for asking, but isn't gunpowder really ineffective in mining situations?"

"Yeah, usually, but then I guess why they have this".

He held up several sticks of dynamite in both hands.

"Most of this will be completely useless but some of it here looks like it could cause a little bang".

"Are we going to continue with our little mission?"

She asked with a chuckle.

"Well, honestly, we might as well. I mean, those things are actually behind us, if we headed back home they'd probably catch up and either kill us or follow us and then kill us… plus, this is actually not too bad a little hidey hole".

"You know, when I think about it, they may reckon we're dead, I mean, how many biological life forms survive a blast of fire when they're in a cave which then collapses? Hopefully they're lazy and have no follow through".

"Well, then, Miss, let us continue on our way to human liberation!"

"Huzzah, good sir, Huzzah!"

--

The first indication that they were nearing freedom was a gust of fresh air. It was quite refreshing and certainly made a welcome change to the damp, musty aroma they were currently subjected to. It was another ten minutes before they saw a flicker of light.

"Almost there".

Lewis grunted as he trudged ahead holding the lamp out in front but starting to lower it as the light from outside started to increase.

"Put the lamp out. Those things have great eyesight and might be able to pick up on it if we walk out there with it flickering away".

"Oh… yeah true that".

He extinguished the lamp and placed it on a nail sticking out of one of the support beams.

The two of them continued on to the outside and whatever it held for them.

The dim light of the new world was a welcome irritant after having spent what seemed so long down there.

The exit from the mine came out midway up the mountainside; from their vantage point they had a view of the large factory belching smoke and soot into the already filthy air. It was not of human construction. The mountain range wrapped around the valley providing natural protection against any outside interference. One of the rivers they'd been in was flowing through a gap in the range, a large dam, again not of human origin was diverting the gritty sludge towards the facility for whatever purpose it might have required.

"Good enough target as any".

Lewis said, feeling the hatred for those metallic bastards rise within him.

"I reckon we should try and scout around first, I don't want to go blowing it sky high if there are people down there".

"Yeah, cool. How about this, I go back inside and gather up all that TNT and gunpowder and place it around the mountainside, you go and check for people and if you find any try and get them out or organise some kind of escape. Then, say nightfall, I blast the rock clear".

"Um… okay, what if there's no one down there? What if its automated?"

"Come back up here then, cos this won't be an easy or quick job".

"Well, sounds the best plan we're going to get under the circumstances".

She said simply. He looked at her and nodded as he began to turn back to the shaft.

"Okay, see you whenever".

"If something goes wrong, or right, let's meet up at that winery".

He said as he entered into the mountainside.

"Will do".

She replied, but he had already disappeared into the darkness.

The young woman started her unsteady descent down the mountain side, looking ahead to determine her path.

--

It took her a good hour at least to get down to ground level, or at least a flat level. She was inwardly amazed that nothing had seen her. The facility had large towers on each corner sitting up on large stacks of rock; she could see movement in each of them, a solider of that murderous army. She gathered if they'd seen her she'd be dead by now. The heavy dark rocks that jutted out of the range gave her ample cover and hiding places. Suddenly a really loud horn sounded, it bellowed out into the quietness around her. Then a huge flash of light came from the south west portion of the building and a huge column of flame ripped upwards through something that resembled a cooling tower. She was sure she could hear screams, but decided it was probably her imagination, she had no idea what was the purpose of such a mechanical outburst, but she didn't want to find out. Carefully scurrying along the outskirts, hiding amongst the rocks, she soon found herself peering towards several large fenced in areas.

In each courtyard were masses of people, all looking sad, depressed and generally tired. There were large shipping containers stacked up in columns of ten. Robots that she hadn't seen before, that looked different to the others she'd seen, stood guard around the containers. There was some activity and at first she thought she'd been caught, but then she noticed it was the human masses that were moving. They were being moved into another containment area, and one group of people were moved into the building. A shipping container was lifted by a large crane and placed on the ground, it was opened and dazed and startled humans were herded out into a vacated fenced area. She sat there watching the whole process, wondering what was going on, until she heard the horn blast again.

Screams.

Absolutely clear as day.

Now that she was within range of them, she knew they were screaming.

The column of fire.

She realised.

"Oh… god".

She whispered right before she vomited behind the rock.

They were killing them.

This wasn't some slave labour camp.

It wasn't some quarry for mining ore.

It wasn't a factory meant to strip mine their planet.

It was a facility used for exterminating humans.

Hot tears rolled down her face, and she turned and quickly, but still cautiously rushed back to Lewis.

--

"Lewis! Where are you?"

"Sssh. Quiet, I'm almost finished placing the charges, I'm not sure how good the detonators will be, we could bri…"

"Shut up for a minute! Lewis, it's a death camp! They're killing people down there! It's a systematic death factory! They're marching them into some kind of giant incinerator, there must be thousands of people who are getting killed down there, right now, as we speak, maybe they're all already dead, they were able to do so many in a few minutes and then within a few minutes they had the next group getting culled! They could all be dead! We might be too late".

Lewis' eyes narrowed to dark slits.

"Well, if they are all dead, then they'll be the last people to die in that facility. Now, come see what I've found".

She followed him into the tunnel, upset and annoyed that he didn't seem to be hurrying, there was the possibility that they could save lives. Even one was better then none.

"Look".

Lewis held the lamp over the large wooden crate with a strange looking machine in it.

"It's a bomb".

He said simply.

"A bomb? This is an old mine shaft, what's a bomb doing here?"

"I don't know. Its probably only been here ten years tops. Maybe the military left it here after an exercise, maybe it belonged to terrorists, maybe anti-government militia. It was hidden in a side chamber behind a huge stack of old crates, like it was meant to look like it wasn't here. Call it coincidence. Call it luck. Call it divine intervention. Call it convenience. This is something we can use and we'd be fools to thumb our noses at the opportunity".

"What do we do with it?"

She asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

"We pull it to the edge of the cliff, then detonate it. Its got a timer, we can set it for whatever we want. When it goes up, it'll set off the TNT and gunpowder – I don't trust those old detonators. Let's go".

She assisted him pulling and pushing the bomb towards the edge.

"What if this doesn't work?"

"It'll work".

"Are you sure?"

"Even if it doesn't, there's still the TNT and gunpowder. Now hurry".

It took a good ten minutes of swearing and sweating to get the bomb to the edge of the tunnel.

"What if it explodes and falls back into the tunnel".

"It won't work like that".

He said. She noticed a shadow over his eyes and decided not to contemplate its origin.

"Right. I'll finish up here, you head along the ledge till you get to that giant rock and then head up over it, I'll meet you on the other side of that verge".

"Lewis…"

"Just do it, Rangimarie, don't be a baby, this is the resistance, there's no place for hesitation or belly aching".

He pronounced her name perfectly, she respected him so much at that point and she wasn't sure if it was because of language skills or something else. She nodded in response and headed off in the direction they'd decided on.

--

She found herself in some kind of wind tunnel as she was able to hear the sound of the horn blasting away, and see the flash on the bottom of the dark clouds above the land. The young nurse wondered if she'd hear the explosion, what it would feel like, would it cause the whole mountain to come streaming down on top of that facility. Would it even work? Would it just blow a hole in the mountain and not even a pebble would land on that death mill. She felt a chill pass down her spine and felt sick to her stomach. She'd heard rumours of the camps. She'd been in the labs. She'd seen what they'd done in the cities and towns. Was it that much of a stretch that they'd have organised genocide? Probably not. She leant against a large boulder and closed her eyes.

She must have waited about an hour before it started.

At first she thought it was another group of innocent humans murdered in that place below. When she realised it wasn't, she considered the bomb was a dud as there was just a small thumping sound. Then the whole mountain seemed to shake, the whole ground under her juddered up so violently she actually skidded three metres down the other side. She rolled on to her back once she found herself more supported by a series of boulders; from up over the ledge she saw a massive ball of flame grow skywards. Definitely not sourced from that place of hell. The noise that followed was massive; it ripped up into the sky behind the heat and the speed of the fire ball. The landslide that followed was so massive she thought she'd be pulled into it, or that the mountain would crack in half. She wondered if Lewis was okay.

There was a lag of about two minutes before a loud crashing sound rung out followed by a series of explosions. She hoped it was the facility being crushed into dust and not the second string of explosives going off – of course; she wouldn't be adverse to that. The woman managed to stand and slowly clawed her way up to a point where she could look down, though, all she could see was a loud cloud of dust and smoke with flickers of light and blasts of fire as things detonated.

Now was probably the time to head back as much as she could to try and avoid getting caught by any angry machine or follow up explosion.

Standing provided to be slightly difficult as the ground under her still continued to rumble with the effects of the landslide and explosions. Up ahead of her, about three vertical metres she was able to see another cave entrance, unsure if it was a mine shaft, it could provide some cover until Lewis showed up – if he did show up. Figuring the worse of it had passed and that it was unlikely that cave would collapse given it hadn't already, she headed towards it. It was a difficult climb, she was tired, sore and dirty, the muck from her recent river swims had dried to her body, her clothes still damp and restrictive.

Once up on the ledge outside the cave she was able to see Lewis clambering up out of the dust clouds, he looked okay, no limp, no stagger, no guarding or holding of his head. He wandered around for a few moments and then she called out to him; he noticed her and began to move as quickly as he could over the still shaky ground. She reached down and offered her hand.

"You right?"

She asked.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah, good".

"That's awesome that we're both okay, but I suggest we get out of here as quickly as possible because that fire ball is going to be one great big beacon to every damn machine from here to Paris".

"Preaching to the choir, mate".

She replied.

"You think it's safe to head back into the mines?"

The woman motioned to the cave, the wooden beam that supported the shaft could be seen from their vantage point.

"Well, we can't go over the top, if there's any flyers in their ranks they'll probably be here within ten minutes, and we could always cause a little cave in, give us some manner of protection until they get tired of looking".

"Sounds like the best plan we've got so far".

"I bought the Davy".

He held up the lamp and smiled.

"You think any humans survived that?"

"They were probably dead before I even threw the switch".

He said morbidly.

The two were quiet for a moment, and then retreated into the darkness of the earth.


End file.
